Eco Friendly Egg Shell Mediated Aldol Condensation

We reported the egg shell as a cheap, environmentally benign catalyst for aldol condensation. This clean protocol is employed to prepare variety of chalcones, resulted in good yields with short reaction time. This method has advantages over homogeneous catalyst 1, 2 such as sodium hydroxide, potassium hydroxide, amines, ammonium or ammonium salts and pyridine which are highly toxic and corrosive. The catalyst is reusable even after fifth run with good yield. XRD, SEM and UV-DRS spectra of egg shell membrane (ESM) proves the presence of crystalline and heterogeneous nature of CaCO3. Here, we report the ESM, as an inexpensive, easily available, reusable, solid support for calcium carbonate with high catalytic activity for the synthesis of chalcones, under mild reaction condition.