Asymmetric Reaction of Simple Nitro Compounds with Chiral 1,3‐Oxazolidin‐2‐ones

The chiral oxazolidinone 1 (=(3aS,6R,7aR)‐tetrahydro‐8,8‐dimethyl‐2‐oxo‐4H‐3a,6‐methano‐1,3‐benzoxazol‐3‐yl](oxo)acetaldehyde) was found to react stereoselectively with simple nitro compounds in the presence of Al₂O₃ or Bu₄NF?3 H₂O (TBAF) as catalysts, affording the diastereoisomeric nitro alcohols 3 – 6 with good asymmetric induction. When Al₂O₃ was used, the (S)‐configuration at the center bearing the OH group was generated, with the relative syn‐configuration for the major diastereoisomers. In the case of the nitro‐aldol reaction catalyzed by TBAF, an opposite asymmetric induction was found for two nitro compounds. In contrast to 1 , compound 12 (=((4R,5S)‐4‐methyl‐2‐oxo‐5‐phenyl‐1,3‐oxazolidin‐3‐yl)(oxo)acetaldehyde), a derivative of Evans auxiliary, gave rise to poor asymmetric induction in Henry reactions.