The process of deasphalted oil thermal cracking in the presence of catalysts formed from oil-soluble Fe, Mo, Ni, and Co acetylacetonates is studied. It is shown that the used catalysts substantially change physicochemical properties of the obtained fractions. For the tested systems the structure-property relationship is ascertained and reasons behind its appearance and correlation between this relationship and process results are considered. It is found that Fe acetylacetonate (500 ppm) and Co acetylacetonate (50 and 500 ppm) show promise for further investigations.