Local structures of the molybdenum sulfide species in the sultided Rh-Mo-K/Al2O3 catalysts with various rhodium loadings have been investigated by XAFS.From the fitting results.the Mo-Mo coordination number for the sample free of rhodium(ca.3.7) is similar to that for the crystalline MoS2,indicating that the supported sulfided molybdenum species mainly present as large pateches of MoS2-like slabs.For the rhodium-modified samples,however,the amplitudes of the Mo-S and Mo-Mo coordination shells are sharply reduced,revealing a high dispersion of the MoS2-like species in the catalysts,The scheme of the microstructures of the sulfided molybdenum species stabilized on the alumina support is discussed based upon the analysis of the EXAFS data.