Boron nitride (BN) has attracted great attention with an unexpected ability in aerobic catalysis. Still, its related probe reactions are relatively rare, and the effect of the BN-supported metal catalyst on O 2 activation is still ambiguous, and opinions are varied. In this work, the porous BN (pBN)-supported Au catalyst with a porous structure and exposed edges exhibits high activity in the oxidative crossesterification reactions between the aromatic and C 1 −C 3 aliphatic alcohols at ambient temperature. The turnover frequency value for methyl benzoate is 118 h −1 at 30 °C, and the calculated apparent activation energy (Ea, 58 kJ/mol) is comparable to that of AuPd/TiO 2 , Ru/Al 2 O 3 , and PdBiTe catalysts. Combined with temperatureprogrammed desorption (TPD) results, the loading of Au enhances the desorption of O 2 and the interaction with alcohols; thus, a synergistic effect between the O-rich pBN and Au is considered. The free-radical scavenger can dramatically suppress the conversion (∼6%), suggesting that the reaction proceeds via the O 2 * radicals. According to the vibration of ν O−O , δ OO−H , and ν B−O−O−B detected by attenuated total reflectance-infrared spectroscopy (ATR-IR), we are prone to consider the oxygen activation route by the edge B atoms. Then, a possible L−H reaction mechanism was proposed: benzyl alcohol and O 2 adsorb on the Au/pBN initially, then O 2 is converted to O 2 *, and the α-H elimination proceeds; as the semi-acetal formed, another α-H elimination proceeds and methyl benzoate is finally formed.