The physicochemical properties of materials are directly related to their size. The ability to understand and eventually tailor the materials' properties over multiple length scales has always been of a primary research goal. Using quantum mechanical calculations and mathematical modeling, we establish a novel theoretical framework capable of predicting the catalytic behavior of bulk metals and alloys and specifically the adsorbate binding energy, using electronic structure information from sub-nanometer cluster models as input. These models demonstrate that bulk-phase concepts can be reproduced from clusters; a first step towards bridging the properties of materials at different length scales. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.