Deuterium-labeled silanes are of great significance in organic synthesis and drug discoveries, yet obtaining versatile deuterated silanes efficiently and selectively under electrochemical conditions using green deuterium sources remains enormously challenging. Herein, facile and general electrochemical deuteration of silanes using D 2 O as the economical deuterium source was reported. A variety of alkyl- and aryl-substituted silanes can be smoothly converted into the corresponding products with excellent levels of deuterium incorporation and yields. Furthermore, this protocol enables 10-gram-scale preparation under high current conditions, underscoring the potential in industry applications. Mechanistic studies have revealed that a catalytic amount of nickel may form a pivotal silicon-nickel intermediate, reversing the polarity of silicon and thereby facilitating the subsequent reactions.
Gao et al. (Fri,) studied this question.