Herein we report on the synthesis, characterization and catalytic evaluation of cobalt (Co) and tin (Sn) oxide catalysts synthesized via the sol-gel approach. Preliminary characterization using nitrogen sorption measurements show the materials as mesoporous with relatively high surface area. The catalyst with the least amount of Co had the highest surface area (146m(2)/g) compared to the catalysts with the highest amount of Co. Furthermore, temperature-programmed reduction (H-2-TPR) was used to study the redox properties of the catalysts. The H-2-TPR analysis revealed that the catalysts are only reduced at relatively high temperatures (>300 degrees C). While the temperature-programmed desorption using ammonia (NH3-TPD) and carbon dioxide (CO2-TPD) results suggest that the total amount of acidic and basic sites is the function of different amounts of metal content in the catalytic materials. The catalyst with the least amount of Co appeared to have the highest number of acidic sites compared to other catalysts. Evaluation of the catalytic activity was studied using oxidation of morin as model reaction. The catalyst with the least amount of Co, (Co0.3Sn0.7Ox) appeared to be the most active catalyst. [GRAPHICS] .