Li/MgO shows promise as catalyst for oxidative cracking of hexane However It suffers from low catalyst activity and slight deactivation Aiming at higher yields of C-2-C-4 olefins during the oxidative cracking of hexane modification of sal-gel Li/MgO with MoO3 is reported The influence of varying loadings of MoO3 on performance of Li/MgO during the oxidative cracking of hexane has been studied Catalyst with minimum MoO3 loading (0 5 wt%) shows best yields to C-2-C-4 olefins Promotion by MoO3 maintains higher surface area upon calcination at T > 500 C and improves catalyst stability significantly by minimizing surface carbonate formation (C) 2010 Elsevier B V All rights reserved