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Nature 433, 470 (3 February 2005) | doi:10.1038/433470a; Published online 2 February 2005

Surface chemistry:  Approximate challenges

Greg Sitz1

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There is growing evidence that the usual approach to modelling chemical events at surfaces is incomplete — an important concern in studies of the many catalytic processes that involve surface reactions.

To describe all the transformations through which a molecule must go during a chemical reaction is a daunting task. The intermediate transition states of a reaction are hard to examine directly, and theory is needed to obtain a full understanding of all the relevant interactions.

  1. Greg Sitz is in the Department of Physics, University of Texas, 1 University Station C1600, Austin, Texas 78712, USA.
    e-mail: Email: e-mail: gositz@physics.utexas.edu

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