Catalytic Activity of Na-CaO Nanocrystalline for Vanillin-based Chalcone Syntheses.

A heterogeneous base catalyst, Na-CaO, was prepared by wet impregnation of NaOH solution on CaO solid support originated from chicken eggshells waste. Material characterization using TGA, FTIR, XRD, SEM, EDAX and BET surface area has confirmed the formation of Na-CaO. The catalyst was applied in chalcone syntheses between acetophenone and vanillin at several reaction conditions, such as various weight of catalyst, temperature, type of solvents and reaction time. The highest yield of product (97%) was obtained from the reaction in ethanol, with 0.3 g of catalyst at 60 °C for 1 hour. This research provides a new route of chalcone syntheses by green environmentally catalyst support of chicken eggshells waste. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]