Fe3O4-chitosan nanoparticles as a robust magnetic catalyst for efficient synthesis of 5-substituted hydantoins using zinc cyanide

In this paper, Fe3O4-chitosan nanoparticles were prepared by the immobilization of chitosan on the surface of Fe3O4 nanoparticles. Then, the 5-substituted hydantoins were synthesized from the condensation of aldehyde derivatives, ammonium carbonate and zinc cyanide as a well-known cyanating agent by the magnetic Fe3O4-chitosan nanoparticles under neat conditions. Fe3O4-Chitosan nanocatalyst as a renewable hybrid catalyst was easily recovered by an external magnet and reused for 4 times without obvious drop in its catalytic activity. The purpose of this research was to provide an easy method for the synthesis of 5-substituted hydantoins in high yields and short reaction times by a robust and magnetic recoverable catalyst.