Mahboobeh Zahedifar

The present study aims to prepare an effective and eco-friendly nanocatalyst for the Chan–Lam coupling reaction of phenylboronic acid and amine in aerobic conditions. For this purpose, chitosan was extracted from shrimp shells waste by demineralization, deproteinization, and deacetylation processes and then converted to chitosan nanoparticles (CSN) by the ionic gelation with tripolyphosphate anions. Afterward, poly-2-hydroxyaniline (P2-HA) was grafted to chitosan nanoparticles (NPs) to employ as the support for CuO NPs. Characterization of the nanocatalyst was done using Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), mapping, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The CuO NPs were identified in the spherical shape with an average size of 17 nm. The prepared nanocatalyst exhibited excellent catalytic performance with a high turnover number (TON) and turnover frequency (TOF) for the Chan–Lam coupling reaction of phenyl boronic acid and amines with different electronic properties. The prepared catalyst could be readily recovered and reused for at least five runs without any noticeable change in structure and catalytic performance. Chitosan (CS) was prepared via demineralization, deproteinization, and deacetylation of shrimp shell and chitosan nanoparticles (CSN) were prepared via ionic gelation process. Polymerization of 2-HA on the CSN surface was done to increase functional groups and create active sites for CuO NPs attachments. CuO NPs-P2-HA-CSN nanocomposite has been shown high efficiently for the Chan–Lam coupling reaction.