N-hydroxyphthalimide (NHPI) and copper chloride ($CuCl_2$) were first utilized for aerobic oxidation of ${alpha}$-isophorone (${alpha}$-IP) to ketoisophorone (KIP) and the effects of co-catalysts, temperature, reaction time, solvent, amount of $CuCl_2$ and pressure of oxygen were investigated extensively. NHPI/$CuCl_2$ turned out to be highly efficient to this oxidation with up to 91.3% conversion and 81.0% selectivity under mild conditions. And various hydrocarbons including benzylic compounds, cycloalkene and its derivatives were also oxidized smoothly under optimized conditions. Moreover, the possible reaction mechanism was proposed and verified by FT-IR spectra.