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A ‘green’ chitosan–silver nanoparticle composite as a heterogeneous as well as micro-heterogeneous catalyst

In this paper, we report on the catalytic activity of a new metal nanoparticle–polymer composite consisting of Ag nanoparticles (NPs) and environmentally friendly (‘green’) chitosan. The polymer (chitosan) not only acted as the reducing agent for the metal ions, but also stabilized the product NPs by anchoring them. The majority of the particles produced in this way had sizes less than 5 nm. The catalytic activity of the composite was investigated photometrically by monitoring the reduction of 4-nitrophenol (4NP) in the presence of excess NaBH4 in water, under both heterogeneous and micro-heterogeneous conditions. The reaction was first order with respect to the concentration of 4NP. We also observed that the apparent rate constant, kapp, for the reaction was linearly dependent on the amount of Ag NPs present in the composite. Moreover, the turn-over frequency (TOF) of the catalyst was found to be (1.5 ± 0.3) × 10−3 s−1, when the reaction was carried out under heterogeneous conditions. The Ag NPs in the composite retained their catalytic activities even after using them for ten cycles. Our observations also suggest that the catalytic efficiency under micro-heterogeneous conditions is much higher than under heterogeneous conditions. Thus the composite we have represents an ideal case of an environmentally friendly and stable catalyst, which works under heterogeneous as well as micro-heterogeneous conditions with the advantage of nanoscopic particles as the catalyst.