Encapsulation of Cu(II) complexes of methyl-2-(2-hydroxybenzylideneamino)-4,5,6,7-tetrahydrobenzo[b]-thiophene-3-carboxylate (HL 1 ) and 2-ethyl-4-methyl 5-(2-hydroxybenzylideneamino)-3-methylthiophene-2,4-dicar-boxylate (HL 2 ) in the supercages of zeolite NaY was per-formed by the flexible ligand method. The neat and encapsulated complexes were characterized by physico-chemical and spectroscopic methods and employed as cat-alysts for oxidation of benzyl alcohol and phenol. The encapsulated complexes were both more reactive and stable as catalysts than the corresponding free complexes. The encap-sulated complexes could be reused several times. Complexes of HL 2 were more reactive than those of HL 1 ,probablydue to the electron-withdrawing effect of the CO2Et group.
