Nature Communications (Sep 2020)

Semiconductor photocatalysis to engineering deuterated N-alkyl pharmaceuticals enabled by synergistic activation of water and alkanols

  • Zhaofei Zhang,
  • Chuntian Qiu,
  • Yangsen Xu,
  • Qing Han,
  • Junwang Tang,
  • Kian Ping Loh,
  • Chenliang Su

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-18458-w
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11, no. 1
pp. 1 – 8

Abstract

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Controllable deuteration of N-alkyl amines is crucial in drug-development as they constitute over 50% of the top-selling drugs. Here, the authors report a polymeric semiconductor acting as photocatalyst in water-splitting and in isotope alkanol-oxidation by photoexcited electron-hole pairs, and furnishing deuterated amines.