The Nitroaldol (Henry) Reaction as the Key Step for the Synthesis of Some Natural Products

The nitroaldol (Henry) reaction although has been discovered more than one century ago is still largely employed as the key step for the synthesis of many targets. The reaction is performed under basic condition by mixing primary or secondary nitroalkanes (and nitromethane) with a carbonyl, allowing the formation of a β-nitroalkanol. The latter shows an high versatility since it can be converted into a lot of different functionalities and many natural products have been prepared using the Henry reaction as the key step. Some of these synthesis will be reported.