Nitrones, served as one of the most important 1,3-dipoles in organic synthetic chemistry, can participate in various organic synthetic reactions to synthesize various heterocyclic compounds, such as nucleophilic addition, cycloaddition reaction, rearrangement reaction, C-H bond activation, etc. They are very important organic building blocks for the further construction of complex molecules. In recent years, α,β-unsaturated nitrone has attracted widespread attention from synthetic chemists because of its α,β-unsaturated bond containing rich chemical transformations, and can take part in various new chemical conversions to construct new structural heterocyclic compounds. The new strategies for the preparation of α,β-unsaturated nitrones in the past ten years, and their applications to construct nitrogen heterocyclic compounds, including O-transfer reaction, addition of nucleophiles and radical reagents, and various cycloaddition reactions, are reviewed.