Aerobic oxidations of various alcohols, diols, and amines are efficiently promoted by the easily prepared inexpensive supported ruthenium hydroxide catalysts. A wide variety of substrates including aromatic, aliphatic, and heterocyclic ones can be converted into the desired products in moderate to excellent yields without the need for additives such as bases and electron/hydrogen transfer reagents. The catalysis for these reactions was intrinsically heterogeneous, and supported ruthenium hydroxide catalysts recovered after these reactions could be reused without appreciable loss of the catalytic performances. A reaction mechanism involving ruthenium alkoxide (amide) form ation/beta -elimination has been proposed for the present catalytic oxidations. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.