When treated with sodium borohydride, molybdate is reduced to molybdenum(IV) oxide:
:NaMoO + NaBH + 2HO → NaBO + MoO + 2NaOH + 3H
Sodium molybdate reacts with the acids of dithiophosphates:
:NaMoO +   → [MoO(SP(OR))]
which further reacts to form [MoO(SP(OR))].