Enhancing Activation of D₂O for Highly Efficient Deuteration Using an Fe-P Pair-Site Catalyst

Deuterated amine derivatives have emerged as valuable compounds in medicinal chemistry and materials science due to their enhanced metabolic stability and unique physicochemical properties, emphasizing the need for cost-effective and efficient deuteration catalysts; yet this topic has rarely been explored. In this work, we present an atomically dispersed Fe-P pair-site catalyst with high catalytic efficiency and regioselectivity in the deuteration of arenes and heteroarenes using D₂O as the deuterated source. Remarkably, these metal-nonmetal Fe-P catalytic pairs with low Fe loading (0.15 wt %) achieve superior catalytic efficiency with a turnover frequency of 131.3 h^-1, demonstrating activity up to 30 times higher than the state-of-the-art Fe nanoparticle catalyst (4.9 wt %, TOF: 4.5 h^-1). Mechanistic investigations and density functional theory reveal that Fe-P pair sites play a key role in activating D₂O and the substrate, enabling the regioselective deuteration of (hetero)arenes. The investigation further demonstrates the remarkable performance of the phosphorus-doped Fe single-atom catalyst (SAC) across a diverse array of substrates, including various functional group-substituted anilines, nitrogen-containing heterocycles, phenol derivatives, and even complex drug molecules, yielding a total of 39 deuterated compounds. The scale-up synthesis of the Fe-P-C catalyst and subsequent stability tests further underscore the catalyst’s potential for practical applications. This methodology introduces a promising direction for developing low-cost, non-noble metal SACs, offering significant potential for advancing the sustainable synthesis of fine chemicals.