Tritium incorporation in α‐amino acids by isotope exchange using high‐temperature solid‐state catalysis

Abstract

Listen

Translate article

AbstractSolid‐state catalytic reactions provide a new effective method for the synthesis of tritium‐labelled biologically active compounds. We present the synthesis of tritium‐labelled amino acids through high‐temperature solid‐state catalytic isotope exchange (HSCIE). Under HSCIE, isotope exchange with gaseous tritium was shown to proceed at all hydrogen atoms in the molecules of solid organic compounds, which opens the possibility of producing biologically active compounds uniformly labelled with tritium at high molar activity. The configuration is retained upon the hydrogen atom substitution at asymmetrical carbon atoms under BSCIE conditions, allowing the synthesis of uniformly‐labelled amino acids in the optically active form.