Hydrogen isotope exchange of organic compounds in dilute acid at elevated temperatures

Introduction of one or more deuterium (or tritium) atoms into organic molecules can be accomplished in many ways depending on the nature of the substrate and the extent and sterochemistry of deuteriation or tritiation required. Some of the common methods include acid- and base-catalyzed exchange of carbonyl compounds, metal hydride reductions, dissolving metal reductions, catalytic reduction of double bonds, chromatographic exchange, homogeneous and heterogeneous metal-catalyzed exchange, base-catalyzed exchange of carbon acids other than carbonyl compounds and acid-catalyzed exchange via electrophilic substitution. Only the latter three methods have been used for perdeuteriation of organic compounds. A very useful compendium of labeling methods with examples has been available to chemists for some time. Although metal-catalyzed exchange has been used extensively, the method suffers from some deficiencies: irreproducibility of catalyst surfaces, catalyst poisoning, side reactions such as coupling and hydrogenolysis of labile groups and low deuterium incorporation. Usually a number of cycles are required with fresh catalyst and fresh deuterium source to achieve substantial isotope incorporation. Acid-catalyzed exchange of aromatics and alkenes, strongly acidic media such as liquid DBr, concentrated DBr, acetic acid/stannic chloride, concentrated D3PO4, concentrated DC1, D3PO4/BF3SO2, 50-80% D2SO4 and DFSO4/SbF5 at moderate temperatures (<100 degrees) have been used to effect exchange. The methods are not particularly suitable for large scale deuteriations because of the cost and the fact that the recovery and upgrading of the diluted deuterium pool is difficult. This paper describes the hydrogen isotope exchange of a variety of organic compounds in dilute aqueous acid (0.1-0.5 M) at elevated temperatures (150-300 degrees)