In the production of aromatic N-oxides using the oxidation of N-containing heterocyclic aromatic substrates with H2O2 as oxidant, the non-catalysed homogeneous oxidation is found to play an important part in the overall reaction. In addition, when TS-1 is used as a catalyst, there are many potential competitive interactions between the catalyst, the reactants and the products, which limit the effectiveness of the catalyst. It is concluded that the use of TS-1 and other microporous catalysts for the heterogeneous N-oxidation of pyridine and substituted pyridines needs to be interpreted with caution.