TEMPO immobilization on activated carbon by a novel surface-formylation tactic for long-term aerobic oxidation of alcohols

•A novel surface-formylation tactic based on activated carbon was contrived by using Grignard Regent.•Reductive amination was adopted to construct robust C-N bonds for TEMPO grafting on activated carbon.•The newly designed heterogeneous TEMPO catalyst has achieved both high conversion and selectivity in aerobic alcohol oxidation.•The long-term continuous test has verified a prominent lifetime of this catalyst (TON = 1160.6).