A number of strategies for time-resolved analysis of heterogeneous oxidation reactions are being explored They comprise the temporal analysis of products (TAP) reactor including micro-kinetic evaluation of TAP experiments steady-state isotopic transient kinetic analysis and time-resolved catalyst characterization by in-situ spectroscopic techniques The present review demonstrates the potential of these methods for elucidating mechanistic and kinetic aspects of oxidative functionalization of C(2)-C(3) hydrocarbons water-gas shift reaction direct N(2)O decomposition and high-temperature ammonia oxidation to nitric oxide (Ostwald process) Particular emphasis will be put on the application of isotopic labels and time-resolved analysis of gas-phase and surface species for identifying true surface intermediate species Perspectives in further developments of time-resolved methods will be also indicated (C) 2010 Elsevier B V All rights reserved