Preparation of Tritium-Labeled Compounds by Isotope Exchange Reactions

This chapter discusses each of six categories of exchange labeling processes, together comprising a variety of methods worthy of consideration as simple alternatives to more complex synthetic strategies. 

Procedures using deuterium are presented only in cases where tritium examples are lacking and when (in the authors opinion) they will work with the analogous tritium source. Any adjustments of procedure deemed necessary for making them work with 

Preparation of Compounds Labeled with Tritium and Carbon-14 Rolf Voges, J. Richard Keys and Thomas Moenius 2009 John Wiley Sons, Ltd. ISBN 978-0-470-51607-2 

Isotope concentration While deuterium model reactions are often conducted with pure deuterium oxide as the isotope source, tritium oxide is rarely used at anything close to nuclidic purity (note that tritiated water at 50 Ci/mL, the highest specific activity normally available commercially, has a tritium/hydrogen ratio of only about 1.6/98.4). Therefore, the concentration of tritium in HHO is usually much lower than that of deuterium in HjO, and this difference will be important if the source concentration is a factor in the rate equation. Analogously, model exchange reactions with deuterium gas are often done at one atmosphere of pressure, whereas in most cases tritium gas is used at lower pressures. This can result in substantially slower tritium exchange rates. 

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Preparation of Tritium-Labeled Compounds by Isotope Exchange Reactions... 

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