Treatments of 1-carboxynitrone 1 with monosabstituted olefins 2 caused a 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions to give cis-isoxazolidines 3 with high stereoselection. On the other hand, reactions of 1 with olefins in the presence of triethylamine afforded trans-isomers 4 predominantly. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd