Nickel-Mediated Asymmetric Allylic Alkylation between Nitroallylic Acetates and Acyl Imidazoles

A nickel-mediated
asymmetric allylic alkylation reaction between
imidazole-modified ketones and nitroallylic acetates is presented.
This reaction is catalyzed by a simple chiral diamine-nickel catalyst
under mild conditions and leads to a series of novel enantioenriched
α-allylic adducts in moderate to good yields with excellent
enantioselectivities. Furthermore, transformation of the allylic adducts
could smoothly lead to chiral γ-nitro-esters containing three
continuous stereocenters in good yields.