MoSe2 has been encapsulated with a variety of guest species. This was achieved by first treating the MoSe2 with an excess of n-BuLi to form the lithiated phase of MoSe2 (LixMoSe2). The LixMoSe2 exfoliates readily in water or NMF to yield single layers of MoSe2. Addition of solutions of polymers, organometallics, and even colloidal suspensions of layered materials to the single layers result in the formation of novel sandwiched compounds. (C) 2009 Published by Elsevier B.V.