This paper reports the preparation of eight new enantiopure amide type crown ethers and their optically active precursors. Chiral diamines were transformed to amide type pyridino-crown ethers reacting them with pyridine dicarbonyl dichlorides by high dilution technique. Two of the new pyridino-crown ethers were reduced to their piperidino analogues. A preliminary study for the potential application of nanofiltration in the purification and recovery of crown ethers is presented. According to the pK a measurements these eight new macrocycles are potential organocatalysts (for instance in Michael addition reactions) thanks to their acidic and basic moieties and chiral skeletons, respectively.