Copper-Catalyzed Asymmetric Michael Reaction of Glycines to Nitroalkenes

Significance

In this paper the authors developed a highly diastereo- and enantioselective copper-catalyzed Michael addition of glycine derivatives to aryl nitroalkenes. The obtained adducts were converted into protected α,γ-diaminobutyric acids, which could be useful building blocks in natural product synthesis or biological studies.