The selective oxidation of alkanes as a green process remains a challenging task because of inactive C—H oxidation.Heterogeneous Ru-polyoxometalates catalysts were synthesized by using organo-ruthenium supported heteropolytungstates

[Sb2W20O70(RuC6H6)2]10-

[Bi2W20O70(RuC6H6)2]10-

[Sb2W20O70(RuC10H14)2]10-

and [Bi2W20O70 (RuC10H14)2]10- anchored on 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (apts)-modified mesoporous SBA-15.The catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD)

N2-adsorption measurements and Fourier transform infrared reflectance (FT-IR) spectroscopy.The results of these analyses indicated that these catalysts had high surface area

uniform hexagonal channels which were similar to those of SBA-15

and organo-ruthenium supported heteropolytungstates were highly dispersed in the pores of the modified silica.The heterogeneous Ru-polyoxometalates catalysts were used as catalysts for the solvent-free aerobic oxidation of n-hexadecane to alcohols and ketones by using air as the oxidant under ambient conditions.They exhibited exceptionally high catalytic performance through a classical free-radical autoxidation mechanism.Therefore

the catalysts demonstrated the prospect of this type of heterogeneous catalyst for practical applications.