Titanium-zirconium mixed oxide microspheres and titanium oxide microcubes have been prepared by using solgel processes, which are further modified by chiral sulfonyl chloride in order to improve their activities for"oxidation of alkenes. Characterizations reveal that the titanium-zirconium microspheres are solid, but substitution of zirconium with L-(+)-sodium tartrate produces microcubes featuring titanium oxide, which has a hollow structure. In catalysis, both microspheres and microcubes show satisfactory conversions of alkenes, as well as promising outputs of high-valued oxidized products. The linkage of chiral sulfonyl chloride looks efficient for improving catalysis. There is a kind of synergy between metal oxide and attached ligand, which plays a key role in catalytic outputs. Lastly, hydrogen peroxide appears to be a promising oxidant for transformation of aliphatic alkenes. This work puts forward micron-sized titanium materials with interesting structures, which also exhibit satisfactory activity for oxidation of alkenes. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.