Hydrogen/deuterium reaction with aluminum

In support of this hypothesis it has been observed that when aluminum bromide is treated with oxygen a reaction occurs which liberates bromine,48 and further, the halogen atoms rather than the hydroxyl group are responsible for the catalytic activity of HOAlBr2. Thus when the compound DOAlBr2 is prepared, the hydrogen-deuterium exchange with n-butane is not at all proportional to isomerization.4 ... 

The most clearly established mechanism for a hydrogen-transfer reaction is that in which an aluminum alkoxide is used as the catalyst for the reduction of a carbonylic group with an alcohol. By using deuterium as a marker... 

A last case of sonication-sensitive catalytic reactions is the hydrogen-deuterium isotope exchange observed in carbohydrates in the presence of nickel or a nickel-aluminum alloy. A good selectivity is observed, probably due to the lower temperature allowed by sonication. However, a more complex origin can be responsible for these effects, since the sonicated alloy exhibits new features such as distinct catalytic centers, and elemental redistribution within the catalyst bulk, along with more classical consequences (surface cleaning, absence of surface area... 

The reaction of ( )-3,3-dimethyl-l-butene-l,2-r/2 with hydrogen cyanide and of ( )-3,3-dimethyl-l-butene-l-d2 with deuterium cyanide stereospecifically proceeds in a cis fashion with Pd(Diop)2 used as the catalyst precursor20,24. The stereochemistry of the products is verified by NMR and characterization of the thiourea derivatives of the corresponding amine obtained with lithium aluminum deuteride. No //wu-addition products exceeding a limit of 5-10% can be detected. 

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