Ammonium orthomolybdate is used as a corrosion inhibitor and is an intermediate in some schemes to win molybdenum from its ores.[2] It is also used for decorating ceramics, and for colorimetric analysis of phosphates and arsenates.
Chemical reactions
Heating ammonium orthomolybdate solid or treatment with acid gives molybdenum trioxide. Such reactions proceed via ammonium dimolybdate. This equilibrium is exploited in the purification of molybdenum from its ores. Aqueous solutions of ammonium orthomolybdate react with hydrogen sulfide to give ammonium tetrathiomolybdate:
(NH4)2MoO4 + 4 H2S → (NH4)2MoS4 + 4 H2O
It reacts with arsenic acid upon heating to form a canary yellow precipitate of ammonium α-Keggin molybdoarsenate.
^Roger F. Sebenik et al. "Molybdenum and Molybdenum Compounds" in Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology 2005; Wiley-VCH, Weinheim. doi:10.1002/14356007.a16_655
^Murakami, Masahiko; Hirano, Masaya; Shibahara, Toshiaki; Kubota, Toshio (18 February 2016). "Speciation of Inorganic Arsenic in Groundwater as Molybdoarsenate by On-Site Solid-Phase Extraction and Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectrometry". Analytical Letters. 49 (13): 2119–2131. doi:10.1080/00032719.2015.1135932. S2CID100305249.