Three types of porous polymer microspheres immobilized with cobalt porphyrins appending p-H, p-Cl and p-NO2 phenyl substituents (designated as CoPP-GMA/MMA, CoCPP-GMA/MMA and CoNPP-GMA/MMA, respectively) were prepared. Their catalytic activities on the oxidation of 2-naphthol to 2-hydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinone by molecular oxygen were investigated in alkaline methanol. The experimental results showed that the porous microsphere supported cobalt porphyrin catalysts could effectively activate molecular oxygen, and 2-naphthol was selectively oxidized to 2-hydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinone with high conversion in alkaline methanol. A phenomenon of distance-dependent catalytic activity was observed and a critical distance of 3.8 nm between porphyrins was determined for the porous polymer microsphere supported catalyst. More interestingly, the activity of the recycled catalyst increased gradually with the increased times of reuse. These results may be helpful in designing highly efficient metalloporphyrin catalysts.