Copper containing enzymes are indispensable for their ability to act as oxygen carrier and oxidation reactions of different substrates. The recent developments on various copper catalysed as well as stoichiometric organic oxidative reactions involving copper complexes are discussed. The emphasis is put on the state of art on the role of copper complexes to delineate structure reactivity correlation to perform selective oxidative transformations. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V All rights reserved.