Liquid-phase oxidation of phenol, p - chlorophenol, and p - nitrophenol by oxygen to carbon dioxide over a catalyst comprising CuO, ZnO, and gamma-alumina in a slurry system undergoes heterogeneous - homogeneous free radical mechanism and behaves as an autocatalytic reaction system. The rate of pollutant disappearance exhibits a linear behavior with respect to pollutant concentration, but oxygen dependence differs for each pollutant.