New challenges are emerging for improving desulfurization technologies due to the introduction of heavy oil feedstock into fuel energy.In this work, catalysts based on Fe, Co, Mn and Bi molybdates are tested in the process of aerobic oxidation of sulfur-containing compounds of the thiophene series in an alkane medium.The catalysts are characterized by a set of physicochem. methods: XRD, FTIR, TGA, low-temperature nitrogen adsorption-desorption, SEM, TEM, NH3-TPD, H2-TPR, XPS.A comparative assessment of the catalytic activity of the obtained molybdates in the oxidation reaction of a model mixture of dibenzothiophene (DBT) in dodecane with air is carried out.It is shown that iron molybdate has the highest activity, in which an important role is played by excess molybdenum in the form of trioxide MoO3.In the presence of a biphasic catalyst, 100 % conversion of DBT is achieved in 15 min at 170 °C.The specific activity is 172 mmol*g-1*h-1 (170 °C, 10 min).A possible reaction mechanism based on the activation of O2 and the generation of active species in the presence of the Fe3+/Fe2+ redox couple, and the oxidation of the sulfur substrate at molybdenum sites has been proposed.The high efficiency of the catalyst is confirmed by the results of aerobic oxidative desulfurization of non-hydrotreated vacuum gas oil with a high sulfur content (18 000 ppm), achieving more than 85 % desulfurization degree.