(R)-(+) and (S)-()-1-phenylethylamine have been shown to promote highly diastereoselective
and complementary enantioselective formal [3 + 2]carbocyclization reactions between 2,
3-butanedione and conjugated nitroalkenes with formation of enantiomerically rich 2-hydroxy-3-
nitrocyclopentanone derivatives. The reactions were carried out both in solvent and under solventfree
conditions. The absolute configurations of the products were assigned by X-ray and circular dichroism
spectra analyses
