A novel chiral aliphatic-aromatic diamine promoted direct, highly enantio- and diastereoselective Michael addition of cyclohexanone to nitroolefins under solvent-free conditions.

A series of new highly efficient chiral aliphatic-aromatic diamine catalysts have been designed and successfully applied to the asymmetric Michael addition of cyclohexanone with nitroolefins under solvent-free conditions without any acidic additives. The desired adducts were obtained in high yields with excellent enantio- and diastereoselectivities of syn products (up to >99% ee, >99:1 dr). (c) 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.