A simple, practical protocol for the deuteration of electron-rich arenes

Deuterated organic molecules are powerful tools in a variety of applied fields, including drug discovery, bioimaging, and fundamental organic chemistry. Accordingly, methods to synthetically access such molecules are required, and while this has been an active area of research for decades there is a dearth of simple, efficient, and accessible approaches to deuterium incorporation into biorelevant molecules. This work details a straightforward synthetic approach to deuterated electron-rich arenes, a structural motif found in a range of biorelevant molecules. Hydrogen/deuterium exchange on the arene can be enabled in up to quantitative yields using common lab reagents SiCl 4 and D 2 O, with the broadly general method taking only 45 min. This practical method provides a highly appealing option for researchers seeking to incorporate deuterium into molecules containing electron-rich arenes.