The vanadium phosphorous oxide (VPO) catalysts, supported on Santa Barbara amorphous molecular sieve (SBA-15) with different vanadium loadings, were prepared by the precipitation method in an organic phase. Techniques such as X-ray diffraction,Bruner–Emmett–Teller method, scanning electron micrograph (SEM), and transmission electron micrograph (TEM) were usedfor characterization of the catalysts. The high surface area, large pore volume, and pore size of SBA-15 provide an excellentdispersion of (VO)2P2O7 species on the support surface. Oxidation of various alcohols was studied in the liquid phase over theVPO/SBA-15 catalyst, using tert-butylhydroperoxide as an oxidant. The activities of VPO/SBA-15 samples were considerablyhigher than that of the bulk VPO catalyst. At 90C, the obtained activities were 0.567 and 8:93 gpro / (gVPO.h ) over the bulk VPO and 15 wt.% VPO/SBA-15 catalysts, respectively. The effects of substrates, oxidants, reaction time, oxidant/alcohol molar ratio, solvents, amount of catalyst, catalyst recycling, and leaching of VPO in the liquid phase were also investigated
