Chemical excision from amorphous MoS3; a quantitative EXAFS study

Quantitative information on the molybdenum containing species produced by t he reaction of aqueous cyanide with the amorphous molybdenum sulfide MoS3 h as been obtained from extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) stud ies. The results of this chemical excision study, in which Mo-Mo bonded tri angular clusters are extracted from the solid, suggest that 70% of the moly bdenum present in MoS3 is found in Mo-3 clusters. This result is consistent with earlier diffraction and EXAFS experiments, but rules out the simplist ic models proposed in those studies.