Recent progress in copper catalyzed asymmetric Henry reaction

Henry reaction is one of the most classical reactions to construct synthetically useful product nitro alcohol, which as a privileged skeleton is widely distributed in various pharmaceuticals. This review summarizes the recent progress of copper-catalyzed asymmetric Henry reaction from 2011 to 2016. The significant progress that has been made in this area will be highlighted and some of challenges that the author believes may be hindering further progress will be revealed.