Highly Stereoselective Synthesis of α‐Alkyl‐α‐Hydroxycarboxylic Acid Derivatives Catalyzed by a Dinuclear Zinc Complex

A dinuclear zinc-ProPhenol catalyst enables highly enantioselective nitro-Michael reactions with oxazol-4(5H)-ones as nucleophilic substrates (see scheme, Nap = 2-naphthyl). This work highlights the utility of the ProPhenol family of ligands. The modular nature of these ligands proved crucial in the optimization of reaction conditions to achieve excellent stereoselectivities.