Direct amination of α-substituted nitroacetates using di-tert-butyl azodicarboxylate catalyzed by Hatakeyama's catalyst β-ICD.

We report the first example of catalytic asymmetric direct amination of α-monosubstituted nitroacetates using di-tert-butyl azodicarboxylate. The simple and easily available Hatakeyama's catalyst β-ICD 11 was found to be a highly enantioselective catalyst for this reaction.