Metal alkoxides are precursors of interfacial species which can be used to enhance interactions between dissimilar components of a composite. Metal alkoxides can react with surface hydroxyl groups of metal oxides or oxidized metals to give covalently bound surface alkoxide species through protolytic loss of one or several alkoxide groups. Because of the reactivity of any remaining alkoxide ligands in the coordination sphere of these surface complexes, a variety of composites can be prepared by ligand exchange.