ABSTRACT
If, to a first approximation, the sites described can be considered as “surface complexes”, then methods for calculating electron energy levels of normal complexes could be applied to determining the electron energy levels of these sites as well. The Angular Overlap Model (AOM) is particularly suited for this task. This is a simple approximation of the full molecular orbital treatment that contains all of the important characteristics of M-L interactions. AOM assumes that the energy values for the entire complex can be considered to be the sum of the energies of each single M-L interaction. In addition to the angular component of the overlap integral there is also a radial component that is a function of the specific M and L and the distance between them. These values and comparable data for other metals can be used in Frontier Molecular Orbital (FMO) considerations of adsorptions and catalytic reactions taking place on specific sites.
