We have synthesized and characterized a novel copper metalated polymeric matrix of modified nucleobase cytosine that catalyses oxidation of phenolic substrates. This metalated polymer is insoluble in common organic solvents, thus catalysis is heterogeneous in nature so that the material can be reused. The molecular structure of the monomer and the metalated monomer, a Michaelis-Menten kinetic analysis of oxidative transformations using different phenolic substrates and mechanistic investigations are presented in this paper. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.