Secondary Amines as Lewis Bases in Nitroalkene Activation

Secondary amines, the well-known enamine and iminium catalysts, can also be used as Lewis bases for the activation of electron-deficient olefins. In this Focus Review, a series of systematic studies from the last five years on activation of nitroolefins with secondary amines as Lewis bases that give different multicomponent condensation products are described. Asymmetric syntheses of heterocycles based on this strategy are also presented.