Catalytic Deuteration of Aldehydes with D2O

Abstract

A procedure is presented that enables the direct deuteration of the formyl C–H bond of aldehydes using D2O as the deuterium source and commercially available RuHCl(CO)(PPh3)3 as the catalyst. Up to 84% deuterium incorporation can be achieved in a single experiment. Multiple iterations can be carried out to further increase the deuteration.