Mild Lewis Acid Catalyzed Ring Opening of Nitro-Cyclopropanes

Significance

Charette’s group has recently reported highly efficient methods for the preparation of racemic and enantio-enriched 1-nitro-cyclopropane-carbonyls (Org. Lett. 2003, 5, 2327; J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2005, 127, 18014). This account represents a further extension of their studies on the utility of those activated cyclopropanes. The method described here provides access to chiral nitro compounds under mild conditions without the erosion of the chirality in the starting molecules.