In situ DRIFTS measurements on unpromoted and Pt promoted MgO and ZrO2 (both tetragonal and monoclinic) indicate that at high H2O/ CO ratios, where the reaction rate has been reported to be zero order in H2O and first order in CO, the mechanism involved in the catalysis of water-gas shift is likely a surface formate mechanism, in agreement with Shido and Iwasawa. Pt was found to catalyze the removal of surface carbonates and to facilitate the generation of active OH groups relative to the unpromoted catalyst. Comparison with Pt/ceria revealed that the OH groups involved in the catalysis of magnesia and zirconia may be those of the bridging variety which occur at defect sites. That is, water dissociated over vacancies to produce bridging OH groups, as observed by infrared spectroscopy. The existence of such an adsorbed species is implied in the zero reaction order for water, where kinetics suggests that the surface should be saturated by an adsorbed water species. The lower extent of vacancy formation for magnesia and zirconia-based materials in comparison with ceria could explain a lower surface population of active bridging OH groups. CO was used as a probe molecule of the reduced centers, as it reacts with bridging OH groups to generate surface formates, a proposed WGS intermediate, and the decomposition of which is proposed to be the rate-limiting step. The trends in formate intensity by CO adsorption and CO conversion in WGS catalytic testing both followed the order: Pt/ceria > Pt/m-zirconia > Pt/t-zirconia > Pt/magnesia. In all cases, a normal kinetic isotope effect was observed in switching from H2O to D2O, consistent with a link between the rate-limiting step and the decomposition of surface formates, as noted previously by Shido and Iwasawa for Rh/ceria, MgO, and ZnO. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.