The adsorption of metal atoms, Ni, Pd, Pt, Cu, Ag and Au, at low-coordinated edge and corner oxygen sites of MgO (001) surface has been studied theoretically by using density functional method with cluster models embedded in a large array of point charges. For comparison, the interaction of metal atoms with perfect regular oxygen site of MgO (001) surface was also calculated. As regards these metal atoms adsorbed at perfect oxygen sites of MgO (001) surface, Cu, Ag and Au are very weakly bonded to the surface of MgO; Ni, Pd and Pt, on the other hand, exhibit strong interactions with perfect oxygen sites of MgO (001) surface; the large adsorption energy shows that there exist strong bonds formed between these metal atoms with surface oxygen sites. For the metal atoms adsorbed at edge and corner sites, the adsorption energy is much increased, consistent with our previous study of CO and Cl2 adsorption on MgO (001) surface. This illustrates that the low-coordinated sites, especially corner site, are more advantageous positions for those metal atoms adsorbed on MgO (001) surface. The Mulliken population analysis indicates that the electron transferred from MgO to the metal atoms were increased with the decrease of the coordination numbers, which may be one of the reasons for changing catalytic efficiency and selectivity of the metal particles supported by MgO. The adsorption of metal atoms, Ni, Pd, Pt, Cu, Ag and Au, at low-coordinated edge and corner oxygen sites of MgO (001) surface has been studied theoretically by using density functional method with cluster models embedded in a large array Of point charges. For comparison, the interaction of metal atoms with perfect regular oxygen site of MgO (001) surface was also calculated. As regards these metal atoms, adsorbed at perfect oxygen sites of MgO (001) surface, Cu, Ag and Au are very weakly bonded to the surface of MgO; Ni, Pd and Pt, on the other hand, exhibit strong interactions with perfect oxygen sites of MgO (001) surface; the large adsorption energy shows that there exists strong bonds formed between these metal atoms with surface oxygen sites. For the metal atoms adsorbed at edge and corner sites, the adsorption energy is much more, consistent with our previous study of CO and Cl2 adsorption on MgO (001) surface. This illustrates the low-coordinated sites, especially corne The Mulliken population analysis indicates that the electron transferred from MgO to the metal atoms were increased with the decrease of the coordination numbers, which may be one of the reasons for changing catalytic efficiency and selectivity of the metal particles supported by MgO.