Multifunctional Deuterated and Tritiated ‘Click’ Molecular Probes via ­Palladium-Mediated Reductive Deiodination of 5-Iodo-1,2,3-Triazoles

Tritiated compounds are invaluable tools for in vitro and in vivo studies on bioactive molecules. Here we describe a ‘click-chemistry’-based strategy for deuteration and tritiation of multifunctional compounds and multimodal molecular imaging probes. The method relies on a palladium-mediated reductive deiodination of 5-iodo-1,2,3-triazoles in the presence of NaBD 4 , deuterium or tritium gas.