A formal synthesis to (+)-nephrosteranic acid from chiral nitroalkyl derivatives

A concise and versatile formal synthesis to (+)-nephrosteranic acid was accomplished from a common nitroderivative 2 in a sequence of six steps. The adduct 2 was obtained via a highly syn-diastereoselective conjugate addition of 1-dodecyl nitronate ion to chiral enoate Z-5 (yield = 80%; de = 95%), derived from d-(+)-mannitol.