The mechamisms of oxidation of p-nitrotoluene to p-nitrobenzoic acid with dioxygen in NaOH-CW3OH solution were proposed and investigated. It was hypothesized that reaction mechamsms were that p-nitrotoluene firstly formed p-nitrobenzyl anions as a result of the action of strong alkali NaOH and anions formed were oxidized by dioxygen activated by metal phthalocyanine catalysts to form p-nitrobenzyl acid through a series of free radical reactions. By studying the catalytic action of metal phthalocyanine catal...