Deuterium labeling compounds play a crucial role in organic and pharmaceutical chemistry but the limited availability of synthetic approaches to deuterated synthons has impeded progress in this field. Here, the authors present an approach utilizing alkyl-substituted aryl thianthrenium salts that efficiently and selectively introduce deuterium at the α position of alkyl chains through a pH-dependent hydrogen isotope exchange process, using D2O as the deuterium source.
- Mengjie Jiao
- Jie Zhang
- Zhuangzhi Shi
