Measurements of adsorption isotherms of a series of thirteen mono- and di-phosphonic acids have shown that these bind strongly to the surface of high surface area aluminium trihydroxide. The incorporation of such phosphonates into a suspension of aluminium flake in an aqueous medium, modelling the continuous phase of a water-based paint, greatly suppresses the evolution of hydrogen. Whilst strong binding of the phosphonate to aluminium oxides is an essential criterion for good passivation, other factors such as the hydrophobicity of the ligand are also important in suppressing hydrogen-evolution.

Simple azo-dyes carrying phosphonic acid and arsonic acid substituents such as 4-(4-hydroxyphenyl azo)phenylphosphonic acid (5) and 4-(4-hydroxyphenylazo)phenylarsonic acid (6) bind more strongly to high surface area oxides such as aluminium trihydroxide and goethite than their carboxylic and sulfonic acid analogues and the phosphonate-functionalized dyes have been shown to have greater humidity fastness when printed onto commercial alumina-coated papers. Adsorption isotherm measurements provide evidence for the formation of ternary dye/cyclodextrin/surface complexes. Dyes which form such ternary complexes show higher light fastness when printed onto alumina coated papers in an ink formulation containing alpha-cyclodextrin.

Co(III) polyamine complexes with either two or three labile coordination sites bind strongly to high surface area metal oxides such as goethite or aluminium trihydroxide, and have been shown to act as passivating agents for aluminium flake in aqueous media, in addition to providing a potential method for surface functionalisation.