Preparation of chitosan nanoparticles from shrimp shells and investigation of its catalytic effect in diastereoselective synthesis of dihydropyrroles.

Preparation of chitosan nanoparticles (CS-NPs) was examined from shrimp shells for their catalytic activity. The yield of crude chitosan was 87.8%. The structure of chitosan nanoparticles was determined by FT-IR, SEM and XRD analysis. Then, diastereoselective synthesis of dihydropyrroles was done using chitosan nanoparticles in water under ultrasonic irradiation. This polymeric nanocatalyst could be used instead of the old toxic commercial organic basic catalysts and could be readily isolated from the reaction mixture and recycled several times without significant loss of catalytic activity.