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We present the direct and stereoretentive deuteration of primary amines using Ru-bMepi (bMepi = 1,3-(6′-methyl-2′-pyridylimino)isoindolate) complexes and D 2 O. High deuterium incorporation occurs at the α-carbon (70–99%). For α-chiral amines, complete retention of stereochemistry is achieved when using an electron-deficient Ru catalyst. The retention of enantiomeric purity is attributed to a high binding affinity of an imine intermediate with ruthenium, as well as to a fast H/D exchange relative to ligand dissociation.
Hale et al. (Thu,) studied this question.