Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Research Briefing
  • Published:

Scalable photocatalytic deuteration of N-heteroarenes

The deuteration of organic compounds typically requires harsh conditions. Now, a scalable photocatalytic method is developed for the deuteration of N-heteroarenes in D2O at room temperature under visible light irradiation and an inert atmosphere over an atomically dispersed palladium photocatalyst.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

USD 39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Scalable photocatalytic synthesis of deuterated N-heteroarenes over atomically dispersed palladium.

References

  1. Di Martino, R. M. C., Maxwell, B. D. & Pirali, T. Deuterium in drug discovery: progress, opportunities and challenges. Nat. Rev. Drug Discov. 22, 562–584 (2023). A review article that presents deuteration in the field of drug discovery and development.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Marshall, C. M., Federice, J. G., Bell, C. N., Cox, P. B. & Njardarson, J. T. An update on the nitrogen heterocycle compositions and properties of U.S. FDA-approved pharmaceuticals (2013–2023). J. Med. Chem. 67, 11622–11655 (2024). This perspective emphasizes the role nitrogen heterocycles have as diverse tunable structural components of US FDA-approved drugs (2013−2023).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Kopf, S. et al. Recent developments for the deuterium and tritium labeling of organic molecules. Chem. Rev. 122, 6634–6718 (2022). A review article that presents developments in the approaches to deuterium and tritium labelling of organic molecules.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Lang, X., Chen, X. & Zhao, J. Heterogeneous visible light photocatalysis for selective organic transformations. Chem. Soc. Rev. 43, 473–486 (2014). A review article that presents accomplishments in visible-light-induced selective organic transformations by heterogeneous photocatalysis.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Bajada, M. A. et al. Light-driven C–O coupling of carboxylic acids and alkyl halides over a Ni single-atom catalyst. Nat. Synth. 2, 1092–1103 (2023). This paper reports a merger of metallic single-atom and photoredox catalysis for the C–O coupling of carboxylic acids and alkyl halides.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Additional information

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

This is a summary of: Xu, J. et al. Scalable light-driven deuteration of N-heteroarenes over atomically dispersed palladium. Nat. Synth. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44160-025-00975-5 (2026).

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Scalable photocatalytic deuteration of N-heteroarenes. Nat. Synth (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44160-025-00978-2

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Version of record:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s44160-025-00978-2

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing