A Simplified Protocol for the ortho-Deuteration of Acidic Aromatic Compounds in D2O

Methods to catalytically introduce deuterium in synthetically useful yields ortho to a carboxylic acid directing group on arenes typically requires D2 or CD3CO2D, which makes using these approaches cost prohibitive for large scale synthesis (equipment and reagent costs respectively). Herein we present a simplified approach using catalytic RhIII and D2O as deuterium source, and show its application to H/D exchange on various acidic substrates.