Facile and economical electrochemical dehalogenative deuteration of (hetero)aryl halides

Abstract

Deuterated compounds are valuable in synthetic, pharmaceutical, and analytical chemistry. The deuteration of halides is a widespread method for highly site-selective deuterium installation. However, the facile, efficient, and economical deuterium incorporation remains challenging. In this work, we introduced a practical deuteration of (hetero)aryl halides through an electrochemical reduction method. This transformation proceeded smoothly at room temperature without metal catalysts, external reductants, or toxic or dangerous reagents. Remarkably, low-cost and chemically equivalent D2O was the sole deuterium source in this reaction. Professional electrosynthesis equipment was not essential because we demonstrated common batteries and electrodes were enough for this reaction.