[8] The most common form of these TMDCs have trilayers of molybdenum sandwiched between selenium ions causing a trigonal prismatic metal bonding coordination, but it is octahedral when the compound is exfoliated.

[9] Synthesis of MoSe2 involves direct reaction of molybdenum and selenium in a sealed tube at high temperature.

Chemical vapor transport with a halogen (usually bromine or iodine) is used to purify the compound at very low pressure (less than 10-6 torr) and very high temperature (600–700 °C).

[10] The synthesis reaction of MoSe2 is: Single-crystal-thick layers of MoSe2 are produced by scotch tape exfoliation from bulk crystals or by chemical vapor deposition (CVD).

[11] Molybdenum(IV) selenide occurs in the nature as the extremely rare mineral drysdallite.