Rare earth-Li-BINOL complexes were used to catalyze nitroaldol reactions of optically active alpha-amino-aldehydes with nitromethane in a highly diastereoselective manner. A typical adduct, (2S, 3S)-3-phthaloylamino-2-hydroxy-1-nitro-4- phenylbutane was conveniently converted to (2S, 3S)-3-amino-2- hydroxy-4-phenylbutanoic acid (erythro-AHPA; phenylnorstatine), a component of the HIV protease inhibitor KNI-227 and KNI-272.