Transition metal copper substituted mesoporous silica (Cu-SBA-15) was synthesized using triblock copolymers surfactant as template agent under acidic condition. The result Cu-SBA-15 was characterized with XRD, ICP-AES, Fr-IR and N-2 adsorption-desorption measurements, which prove that Cu(III) was mainly incorporated into the framework of Cu-SBA-15. Its catalytic activity was studied for phenol hydroxylation using H2O2 (30%). The substituting element (Cu2+) is incorporated into the framework position forming a new type of active site which raises the phenol conversion to 62.4% and the diphenol (the mixture of catechol (CAT) and hydroquinone (HQ)) selectivity to 97%. The Cu-SBA-15 has very high selectivity for catechol (about 71% selectivity), which is completely different from that of the microporous titanium silicalite zeolites (47.1% phenol conversion and about 50% selectivity to CAT under same reaction conditions). The results obtained indicate that the selective oxidation of phenol with H,02 by a radical substitution mechanism. (c) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.