Preparation of tritium labeled eicosatrienoic acid by heterogeneous catalytic hydrogenation of its acetylenic precursor

This paper describes the use of heterogeneous catalytic hydrogenation by gaseous tritium in a solution for the preparation of eicosatrienoic acid (ETA) having high molar radioactivity. The nature of the catalyst, introduction of compounds, poisoning of the catalyst, partial hydrogen pressure, dilution with tritium, and the time of reaction are factors studied which influence the yield and the selectivity of the hydrogenation, and also the molar radioactivity of the product. It was shown that by using a polyenzymatic system of prostaglandin-synthetase, prostaglandins with high molar radioactivity can be obtained from tritium-labeled precursors