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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 used for characterization of the catalysts. The high surface area, large pore volume, and pore size of SBA-15 provide an excellent dispersion of (VO)2P2O7species on the support surface. Oxidation of various alcohols was studied in the liquid phase over the VPO/SBA-15 catalyst, usingtert-butylhydroperoxide as an oxidant. The activities of VPO/SBA-15 samples were considerably higher than that of the bulk VPO catalyst. At 90°C, the obtained activities were 0.567 andover 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. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]