This dark volatile solid is used in research to prepare other molybdenum compounds.

Usually called molybdenum pentachloride, it is in fact partly a dimer with the molecular formula Mo2Cl10.

[3] In the gas phase and partly in solution, the dimers partially dissociate to give a monomeric MoCl5.

In organic synthesis, the compound finds occasional use in chlorinations, deoxygenation, and oxidative coupling reactions.

[8] MoCl5 is reduced by acetonitrile:[9] Although it polymerizes tetrahydrofuran, MoCl5 is stable in diethyl ether.