Dinuclear zinc-catalyzed enantioselective aza-Henry reaction

The dinuclear zinc catalyst 1a was found to catalyze the addition of nitroalkanes to carbamate-protected imines. This aza-Henry reaction proceeds with high enantioselectivity when various carbamate-protected imines are used. alpha,beta-Unsaturated imines proved to be a particularly useful class of substrate routinely giving the alpha-nitro amine products in high enantiomeric excess.