Oxidation of alkylbenzenes to aryl alcohols and ketones with high selectivity and reactivity by linear polystyrene (PS)- and polystyrene-2% divinyl benzene (DVB)-bound-copper(II) complexes PS-bipy-Cu, PS-bipy-Cu-bipy, PS-bipy-Cu-phen, and PS-2%DVB-bipy-Cu (where bipy = 2, 2′-bipyridine and phen-1, 10-phenanthroline) was studied. The oxidation reaction was carried out in the presence of molecular oxygen in the absence of solvent at 110 ± 5°C. The reaction rate depends on the nature of the electric and steric effects of the substrates, the complex structure, and the polymer matrices.