In continuation to our ongoing studies on conjugate additions to nitroolefins,8 we became interested in the challenging reactivity of α-keto esters as pronucleophiles in organocatalyzed Michael reactions since no example of such a transformation has been reported so far.9,10 Our own interest in the activation of 1,2-dicarbonyl compounds11 and the very recent report from Terada and co-workers on an unprecedented enantioselective organocatalyzed amination of α-keto ...