H/D Exchange at Aromatic and Heteroaromatic Hydrocarbons Using D 2 O as the Deuterium Source and Ruthenium Dihydrogen Complexes as the Catalyst

Getting heavy: At temperatures as low as 50 °C, D2O can serve as a cheap and readily available deuterium source for the efficient deuteration of aromatic and heteroaromatic substrates if nonclassical ruthenium hydride complexes are used as catalysts (see scheme). DFT calculations support a catalytic cycle comprising σ-bond metathesis as the key step for the exchange processes.