Dedicated to Professor Giambattista Consiglio on the occasion of his 65th birthdayThe synthesis of three key intermediates of the hydrogenation pathway in the hydrodesulfurization of 4,6-dimethyldibenzothiophene (4,6-DM-DBT; 1) is described. The hydrogenated derivatives 1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-4,6-dimethyldibenzothiophene (= 4,6-dimethyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydrodibenzothiophene; 4,6-DM-TH-DBT; 2), 1,2,3,4,4a,9b-hexahydro-4,6-dimethyldibenzothiophene (= 4,6-dimethyl-1,2,3,4,4a,9b-hexahydrodibenzothiophene; 4,6-DM-HH-DBT; 3), and dodecahydro-4,6-dimethyldibenzothiophene (= 4,6-dimethylperhydrodibenzothiophene; 4,6-DM-PH-DBT; 4) were prepared by direct hydrogenation of 1. The reactions were carried out in continuous and batch reactors by using metal sulfide as well as noblemetal catalysts. The influence of the reaction conditions on the formation of the products and the distribution of their stereoisomers was studied in detail. The isomers of the main products were isolated and characterized by NMR, GC/MS/MS, and X-ray crystal-structure diffractometry.