Patent ID: 8097149

Claim:
A process for hydrodesulfurization of a hydrocarbon, the process for hydrodesulfurization comprising: providing an initial hydrocarbon having a high sulfur content; providing a bifunctional, oil-soluble catalyst comprised of a plurality of oil-soluble complexes, the oil-soluble complexes comprising: oil-soluble attractor complexes comprising at least one type of attractor species that is selectively attracted to sulfur sites in the hydrocarbon, wherein each oil-soluble each attractor species is bonded to one or more ligands by one or more functional groups, oil-soluble catalyst complexes comprising at least one type of catalytic metal that catalyzes the desulfurization of the hydrocarbon, wherein each catalytic metal atom is bonded to one or more ligands by one or more functional groups, and wherein at least some of the organic ligands are optionally bonded to both an attractor species and a catalytic metal atom; blending the bifunctional, oil-soluble catalyst with the hydrocarbon to form a feedstock mixture; and processing the feedstock mixture under hydrodesulfurization conditions to form a modified hydrocarbon product having a decreased sulfur content compared to the initial hydrocarbon.