An effective and expeditious method of the synthesis of a highly functionalized piperidines, catalyzed by nontoxic, recyclable and environment friendly sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), via one-pot multi-component condensation of aldehydes, amines and β-ketoesters in water at room temperature, has been developed. This new protocol has advantages such as moderate to high yields of products obtained after simple post reaction workup. Structure of the synthesized compounds 4a–4j have been elucidated based on the 1H NMR, 13C NMR, FT-IR spectroscopy and elemental analysis.

Novel fragrant starch-based films with limonene were successfully prepared. Biodegradable materials of natural origin were used and the process was relatively simple and inexpensive. The effect of limonene on physicochemical properties of starch-based films (moisture absorption, solubility in water, wettability, mechanical properties) were compared to glycerol plasticized system. Taking into consideration that the obtained materials could also exhibit bactericidal and fungicidal properties, the studies with Escherichia coli, Candida albicans and Aspergillus niger were performed. Such a material could potentially find application in food packaging (e.g. masking unpleasant odors, hydrophilic starch film would prevent food drying), or in agriculture (e.g. for seed encapsulated tapes).