Polypropylene nonwoven fabrics were radiation grafted with 4-vinylpyridine and then functionalized with chromium trioxide to obtain the corresponding poly[propylene-graft-(4-vinylpyridinium dichromate)]. The degree of functionalization was found to be in the range of 80-90% of the theoretical value. The insoluble functionalized polymer substrate possesses the desired characteristics of a useful polymer-supported reagent, including high accessibility of active sites and operational simplicity. The oxidation of alcohols was investigated to compare this polymer-substrate supported reagent with a commercially available cross-linked poly(vinylpyridinium) reagent. The reagent supported on the nonwoven fabric was found to be more efficient in the oxidation reactions than the commercially available poly(vinylpyridinium) reagent. This difference in reactivity is attributed to the non-cross-linked graft chains in the nonwoven supported reagent, which increase the accessibility to the active sites. The reagent is very easily separated from the reaction mixture since the fabric can be manually removed from the solution, which remains clear during and after the reactions.