“…[5] Recent significant advances have been the use of solid-phase Lewis acid catalysis [6] and our own discovery that small 1,2-dibasic ligands, N,N,N',N'-tetramethylethylenediamine (tmeda) in particular, can have a remarkable effect on aqueous Michael addition reactions catalyzed by ytterbium triflate. [7] Herein we report our first results on the use of a-amino acids as rate-accelerating ligands.…”