Stereodivergency in Catalytic Asymmetric Conjugate Addition Reactions of Glycine (Ket)imines

Stereodivergent catalytic asymmetric conjugate reactions of glycine (ket)­imines with nitroalkenes have been achieved using various chiral catalyst systems derived from a multidentate amino alcohol (1). The stepwise nature of the [3 + 2] cycloaddition reactions of N-metalated azomethine ylides has also been demonstrated by highly enantio- and diastereoselective syntheses of exo-5 and endo-8 from the respective syn-4 and anti-7 conjugate addition products in a one-pot tandem fashion.