A new sustainable protocol for the synthesis of nitroaldol derivatives via Henry reaction under solvent-free conditions

A new protocol for the Henry addition of nitroalkanes to aryl- and alkyl-aldehydes promoted by PS-BEMP under solvent-free conditions (SolFC) is presented. The corresponding nitroaldol products were obtained in good yields and short times; furthermore minimization of the reaction waste was achieved by reducing the use of organic solvents. Extension of the protocol was obtained by setting up the tandem Michael-Henry reaction of α,β-unsaturated aldehydes and nitroalkane to yield the corresponding dinitro derivatives.