A chemist from the RUDN University has succeeded in revising the mechanism of the Henry reaction catalyzed by copper(II) complexes. He has proved that water plays a crucial role in the asymmetric Henry reaction using new copper(II) complexes obtained in the same laboratory. Earlier, scientists have never considered this factor and assumed that the copper(II) complex serves as a classical Lewis acid. The findings will pave the way to understand the process of the Henry reaction and will help in the production of the most important classes of materials for the pharmaceutical industry: α-nitroketones, ketones, nitroalkenes, and β-amino alcohols.
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