Palladium-Catalyzed Stereospecific Allylation of Nitroacetates with Enantioenriched Primary Allylic Amines

An unprecedented stereospecific allylation reaction of nitroacetates with enantioenriched primary allylic amines has been developed. A range of nitroacetates smoothly underwent allylation with enantioenriched primary allylic amines in the presence of a palladium catalyst and boric acid followed by one-pot decarboxylation to afford structurally diverse homoallylic nitro compounds in good to excellent yields with excellent retention of configuration. On the other hand, the allylation followed by denitronation provided a facile synthetic route to optically active -chiral ,-unsaturated esters.