2+ ion as its trifluoroacetate or trifluoromethanesulfonate salt. The structure of the compound was confirmed by X-ray analyses. The anions establish hydrogen-bonding interactions with all four bridging OH groups. Density functional calculations afford bonding parameters in close agreement with the observed structure and indicate that the cluster is best described as a valence-delocalized Mo 3 13+ species. The five metal electrons are distributed among an a-type (z 2 ) orbital, which accounts for