BACKGROUND: Heterogenization of homogeneous catalyst has become an interesting process for the catalytic oxidation of olefins and aromatic alcohol. This may provide a new kind of catalyst that is not only friendly to the environment but also exhibits higher thermal and chemical stabilities. RESULTS: Polymer anchored Schiff-base complexes of iron(III), copper(II) and cobalt(II) have been synthesized and characterized. The catalytic potential of these complexes has been tested for the oxidation of cyclohexene. The effect of varying solvent, oxidant, substrate oxidant molar ratio, temperature and catalyst amount has been studied. Under optimized reaction conditions 91, 88 and 81% conversion of cyclohexene was obtained with Fe(III), Cu(II) and Co(II) catalysts, respectively. Moreover, the oxidation of other substrates, such as styrene, benzylalcohol, toluene and 1-hexene were also efficiently carried out by these catalysts. CONCLUSION: The immobilized complexes showed excellent catalytic activity along with high selectivity for the oxidation of olefins and alcohols. The catalysts can be recycled more than five times without any noticeable loss of catalytic activity. (C) 2009 Society of Chemical Industry