Increasing demand for deuterium‐labeled organic molecules has spurred a renewed interest in selective methods for deuterium installation. Catalytic transfer deuteration and transfer hydrodeuteration are emerging as powerful techniques for the selective incorporation of deuterium into small molecules. These reactions not only obviate the use of D2 gas and pressurized reaction setups but provide new opportunities for selectively installing deuterium into small molecules. Commercial or readily synthesized deuterium donors are typically employed as easy‐to‐handle reagents for transfer deuteration and hydrodeuteration reactions. In this minireview, recent advances in the catalytic transfer deuteration and hydrodeuteration of alkenes and alkynes for the selective synthesis of deuterated alkanes will be discussed.

Selective deuterium installation into small molecules is becoming increasingly desirable not only for the elucidation of mechanistic pathways and studying biological processes but also because of deuterium's ability to favorably adjust the pharmacokinetic parameters of bioactive molecules. Fused bicyclic moieties, especially those containing heteroatoms, are prevalent in drug discovery and pharmaceuticals. Herein, we report a copper‐catalyzed transfer hydrodeuteration of cyclic and heterocyclic alkenes, which enables the synthesis of chromans, quinolinones, and tetrahydronaphthalenes that are precisely deuterated at the benzylic position. We also demonstrate the ability to place one deuterium atom at the homobenzylic site of these scaffolds with high regioselectivity by swapping transfer reagents for their isotopic analogs. Furthermore, examples of chemoselective transfer hydrogenation and transfer deuteration are disclosed, allowing for the simultaneous incorporation of two vicinal hydrogen or deuterium atoms into a double bond.

Selective incorporation of deuterium into small molecules has emerged as a new challenge to chemists due to an increasing demand for deuterium‐labeled organic molecules. For this purpose, commercial or readily synthesized deuterium donors are employed as easy‐to‐handle reagents for transfer deuteration and hydrodeuteration reactions. Read more about recent advances in the catalytic transfer deuteration and hydrodeuteration for the selective synthesis of deuterated compounds in the Minireview by J. R. Clark et al. on page 9988 ff.