Urea/Transition‐Metal Cooperative Catalyst for<i>anti</i>‐Selective Asymmetric Nitroaldol Reactions

Abstract

A cooperative catalyst that features urea H-bonding and a cobalt center was developed for anti-selective asymmetric Henry reactions (see scheme). The H-bonds of urea play a crucial role in the improvement in yield (from 30 % to 84 %), enantioselectivity (from 78 % to 96 %), and anti diastereoselectivity (from 3:1 to 48:1). A short synthesis of (1R,2S)-methoxamine hydrochloride was also accomplished with this catalyst. Detailed facts of importance to specialist readers are published as ”Supporting Information”. Such documents are peer-reviewed, but not copy-edited or typeset. They are made available as submitted by the authors. Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article.