Method for Small-Scale Production of Deuterochloroform

Article abstract of DOI:10.1021/acs.joc.8b01018

Deuterochloroform (CDCl₃) is a common deuterated solvent for nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analyses. The synthesis of significant amounts of CDCl₃ for both research use and large undergraduate organic laboratories in a safe and in

Full text of DOI:10.1021/acs.joc.8b01018

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A Method for Small-Scale Production of Deuterochloroform
Natha D. Tansukawat, Alyaa E. See, Sadudee Jiranuntirat, Joshua Corbin, and Jennifer M Schomaker
J. Org. Chem., Just Accepted Manuscript • DOI: 10.1021/acs.joc.8b01018 • Publication Date (Web): 04 Jun 2018
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A Method for Small-Scale Production of Deuterochloroform
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Natha D. Tansukawat, Alyaa E. See, Sadudee Jiranuntirat, Joshua Corbin and Jennifer M. Schomaker*
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Department of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, United States
schomakerj@chem.wisc.edu
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Abstract
Deuterochloroform (CDCl3) is a common deuterated solvent for nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)
analyses. The synthesis of significant amounts of CDCl3 for both research use and large undergraduate
organic laboratories in a safe and inexpensive manner is appealing. Herein, we describe a convenient
laboratory scale preparation of CDCl3 that employs a reduction and decarboxylation of hexachloroꢀ2ꢀ
propanone (HCP) catalyzed by various pyridines. A PVP catalyst gives cleaner reaction and greater
catalyst stability through multiple rounds of recycling, justifying its higher cost compared to pyridine.
Deuterochloroform (CDCl3) is the primary solvent employed for NMR analyses and can constitute a
significant expense for many organic laboratories. For institutions with large undergraduate organic lab
courses, the cost associated with purchasing CDCl3 may limit the quantity of experimentation or the
extent of chemical analysis that can be used on a regular basis. In an industrial setting, CDCl3 is typically
produced through a haloform reaction between deuterated acetone/ethanol and an alkali metal
hypochlorite,1 or by treatment of chloral hydrate with sodium deuteroxide.2 Previous reports of
laboratoryꢀscale synthesis of CDCl3 using D2O as an inexpensive deuterium source employ either Na
metal or sodium peroxide, both of which have safety concerns for use on larger scales.3,4 While
convenient, the conversion of CHCl3 to CDCl3 with catalytic NaOD uses a large excess of D2O and
delivers only moderate yields.5 We thus sought to develop an inexpensive and operationally simple
protocol capable of producing CDCl3 in a continuous, rather than batch, process. We also desired to
utilize relatively nonꢀtoxic reagents with
Scheme 1. Reaction of hexachloroꢀ2ꢀpropanone to CDCl3
using pyridineꢀbased catalysts.
no major safety concerns, minimize the
amount of the deuterium source required,
have the capability to recycle the catalyst,
and improve the overall yield of CDCl3
compared to current methods.
In 1964, Paulson and Cooke reported
the use of pyridine as an effective catalyst
for the synthesis of CDCl3 via the
reduction
and
decarboxylation
of
hexachloroꢀ2ꢀpropanone (HCP) using
D2O as the deuterium source (Scheme
1A).6 We felt this system held promise for
meeting our requirements for a simple and
economical approach to the synthesis of
CDCl3 for common laboratory use if
catalyst recycling could be employed.
Pyridine (py), sodium 3ꢀpyridine sulfonate (SPS), and poly(4ꢀvinylpyridine) (PVP) (Scheme 1B) were
selected for comparison. SPS and PVP are the least expensive pyridine alternatives that are nonꢀmiscible
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with CDCl3, a useful feature for facile recycling. SPS is exclusively soluble in deuterium oxide (D2O),
while PVP is heterogeneous.
A benefit of utilizing SPS and PVP over pyridine is their relative safety and lower toxicity. The
Globally Harmonized System of Classifications has noted the acute toxicity for pyridine in terms of oral,
inhalation, and dermal contact.7,8 In contrast, SPS and PVP have less specific or lower toxicity, with the
exception of target organ toxicity by PVP (see the SI for details). The lower volatility of solid SPS and
PVP, as compared to pyridine, allow these catalysts to be safely handled by less experienced researchers.
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Reaction set-up. In these studies, the reaction vessel was charged with HCP, D2O, and catalyst, as
indicated in Table 1. The flask was slowly heated to the temperature specified; the three catalysts require
three different reaction temperatures. Reaction with pyridine occurred at 65 °C, while SPS required
heating to 105 °C, as the electronꢀwithdrawing sulfonate group decreased the nucleophilicity of the
catalyst. The heterogeneous PVP catalyst required a temperature of 85 °C, due to its lower solubility. The
reaction was initiated when the vapor temperature reached 35° C and was concluded when the distillate
temperature of the distillate returned to room temperature (25° C). The potential for recycling was
assessed by running the reaction an additional seven times using the original catalyst. For each new run, a
stoichiometric amount of D2O was added, along with a fresh aliquot of HCP. Subsequent reactions were
deemed complete when the vapor temperature dropped back to 25° C, or when the reaction time exceeded
twice the initial batch time.
Table 1. Amounts of reagent and catalyst used.
Catalyst Catalyst amount
HCP
Initial D2O
2nd aliquot D2O
temperature
65 °C
pyridine
0.491 g
13.25 g
2.00 g
1.00 g
(6.20 mmol)
(50.05 mmol)
(99.9 mmol)
(50.0 mmol)
SPS
1.124 g
(6.20 mmol)
13.25 g
(50.05 mmol)
3.00 g
(150. mmol)
1.00 g
(50.0 mmol)
105 °C
85 °C
PVP
1.0
g
13.25 g (50.05
mmol)
2.00 g
(99.9 mmol)
1.00 g
(50.0 mmol)
(0.017 mmol)
A benefit to SPS and PVP over pyridine is the ease of removal of CDCl3 from the reaction mixture. In
the case of pyridine, an initial distillation is required to remove CDCl3 from the vessel; however, if a
convenient shortꢀpath distillation setꢀup is employed, a subsequent purification is required to remove
residual pyridine. Due to their higher boiling points, neither SPS nor PVP coꢀdistills with CDCl3; thus,
only a single distillation is needed to remove pure CDCl3 from the mixture. The catalyst remains in the
reaction vessel, where it can be charged with additional reagents for recycling. A simple DeanꢀStark
distillation could be employed with SPS and PVP to minimize the amount of D2O required in the reaction.
The potential for recycling these catalysts was assessed by running the reaction ten more times using the
original catalyst, which remained in the flask, and simply adding a stoichiometric amount of D2O and a
fresh aliquot of HCP to the reaction vessel itself.
Depending on the identity of the pyridineꢀbased catalyst, certain precautions were taken during to
minimize byꢀproduct formation or exothermic reactions. Potential SN2 reaction between the activated αꢀ
chlorines of HCP and pyridine were minimized by adding the catalyst slowly to a mixture of HCP and
D2O. The pyridine catalyst was injected slowly into the reaction mixture following assembly of the
distillation apparatus. To preserve reagent usability for demonstrating catalyst recyclability, both the
pyridine and SPSꢀcatalyzed reaction mixtures were stored in the dark in the refrigerator at 10 °C until a
fresh charge of HCP and D2O could be added.
In the case of SPS (Table 1), additional D2O was used for the reaction, as the catalyst is a salt that does
not easily dissolve in HCP. The heterogeneous PVP also presented experimental challenges. In some
cases, the temperature of the vapor phase dropped, even when the reaction was incomplete. This
suggested the reaction promoted by PVP may happen in 'bursts', rather than in a continuous process,
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perhaps due to the heterogeneous nature of the catalyst. The temperature in the reaction vessel was not
allowed to exceed 90° C to prevent bumping. After completion of the reaction, the remaining PVP was
cooled, removed from the reacting vessel, washed with acetone, and stored in an oven at ~100 °C.
Results. A control reaction using pyridine as the catalyst was conducted to establish the procedure
necessary to collect the pure CDCl3 in optimal yield,6 and assess the possibilities for recycling the
catalyst. Once these benchmark studies were completed, similar reactions were run employing SPS and
PVP to compare and contrast the various catalyst systems.
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In reactions catalyzed by pyridine (Figure 1A), the yield of CDCl3 decreased as the catalyst was
recycled in subsequent batches. By the time Batch 8 was reached, the experiment showed no production
of CDCl3 within 3 h. NMR characterization of the product CDCl3 showed that some pyridine distilled
over along with the desired CDCl3 in the range of 2 mol % to 8 mol %. Thus, the losses in yield as the
number of batches increases were attributed to loss of the catalyst due to coꢀdistillation, as well as
decomposition products resulting from undesired background reaction of the pyridine with the HCP.
Figure 1. Yields per batch and rolling average yield using: A) pyridine as the catalyst; B) SPS as the
catalyst; and C) PVP as the catalyst. Each catalyst was subjected to 11 recycles.
Reactions catalyzed by SPS (Figure 1B) exhibited a similar trend as the pyridineꢀcatalyzed reaction
(Figure 1A); however, SPS delivered a higher yield of CDCl3 over the same number of batches. In
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contrast to reactions catalyzed by pyridine, no impurities were seen in the CDCl3 product by either H or
13C NMR spectroscopy. The reason for the relatively quick drop in yield for the reactions catalyzed by
either pyridine or SPS is hypothesized to be due to formation of a pyridinium salt resulting from the SN2
reaction of the catalyst with HCP. This reasoning is supported by the formation of insoluble, dark brown
solid, which accumulates as the batch number increases. Mixing stoichiometric amounts of HCP and
pyridine resulted in the formation of a similar solid.
The use of the heterogeneous PVP catalyst (Figure 1C) resulted in the formation of no byꢀproducts as
ascertained by NMR spectroscopy, similar to initial batches using SPS as the catalyst. However, in
contrast to pyridine and SPS, PVP gave reproducibly high yields through 11 cycles!
Comparing the utility of the three catalysts. All three catalysts produce CDCl3 in similar yield over a
single batch; however, the catalysts differ in terms of their recyclability. The pyridine and SPS catalysts
quickly lost their efficacy, becoming inactive after 7 batches. Impurities from side reactions were noted
with both catalysts; in addition, a column was required for distillation of CDCl3 formed using pyridine,
while higher reaction temperatures were needed for reactions employing SPS. In contrast, the
heterogeneous PVP was recycled multiple (11) times with little byꢀproduct formation, displays
consistently higher overall yields and an overall yield of 79% over the 11 batches, and shows greater
stability as compared to pyridine and SPS. Another advantage of PVP is the ease of operation, requiring
only a DeanꢀStark trap for the distillation; the periodic introduction of fresh reagents into the reaction
vessel enables the continuous production of CDCl3. While the costs of reagents will obviously change
over time, a current costꢀvolumeꢀprofit (CVP, see the SI for details) analysis shows all three catalysts
require recycling to beat the commercial price of CDCl3. The pyridineꢀcatalyzed reaction requires 2
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recycles to be economically viable, while the SPSꢀ and PVPꢀcatalyzed reactions require 4 batches to be
economically viable; the higher cost of PVP compared to pyridine is readily accommodated by its greater
stability, recyclability and ability to be used for the continuous production of CDCl3.
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Experimental Section
General Information. All components of the reaction apparatus were washed first with deionized (DI)
water, followed by acetone, and then dried overnight in an oven at 130 °C. If necessary, any grease
present on the groundꢀglass joints was removed by washing with hexane prior to rinsing with DI and
acetone. To ensure that no water is present in the reaction, the glassware was flameꢀdried immediately
before use and cooled under nitrogen. Chemical reagents were purchased from SigmaꢀAldrich. The D2O
was used fresh, the PVP dried overnight at 80 °C in an oven and the hexachloroacetone distilled over
P2O5 into a flask containing 3 Å molecular sieves.9 These precautions minimize the amount of protiated
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chloroform in the final product. H NMR NMR spectra were obtained at 25 °C using a Bruker 400 MHz
NMR spectrometer. For 1H NMR, chemical shifts are reported relative to residual protiated solvent peaks
(δ 7.26, 2.49, 7.15 and 4.80 ppm for CDCl3, (CD3)2SO, C6D6 and CD3OD respectively). 13C NMR spectra
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were measured at 100 MHz on the same instrument noted above for recording H NMR spectra.
Chemical shifts were reported in accordance to residual protiated solvent peaks (δ 77.0, 39.5, 128.0 and
49.0 ppm for CDCl3, (CD3)2SO, C6D6, and CD3OD, respectively). Accurate mass measurements were
acquired at the University of Wisconsin, Madison using a Micromass LCT (electrospray ionization, timeꢀ
ofꢀflight analyzer or electron impact methods).
Synthesis of CDCl3 catalyzed by pyridine. A threeꢀneck, 50ꢀmL round bottom flask was charged with
HCP (13.25 g, 50.05 mmol, 1.0 equiv), followed by D2O (2.00 g, 100 mmol, 2.0 equiv, 99.9 atom%). A
magnetic stirꢀbar was added to the reaction vessel and the central ground glass joint was equipped with a
distillation head, fractionating column, Liebig condenser, thermometer and a cooled collection flask. The
entire system was then flushed with nitrogen gas before the remaining two ground glass joints were
stoppered with rubber septa. The flask was slowly heated to 65 °C, during which time, 12 mol % of
pyridine (0.49 g, 6.20 mmol, 0.5 mL) was added through the rubber septum using a syringe. Bubbling
was observed to occur shortly after the introduction of pyridine and the reaction solution turned a
progressively darker brown color, due to formations of side products. The temperature was maintained at
65 °C as the distillation progressed. Distillation was continued until the vapor temperature of the
distillate dropped back to 25 °C. The collected distillate could contain small amounts of pyridine and
D2O, depending on the height and type of distillation column. The immiscible D2O was removed from
the CDCl3 using a separatory funnel and returned to the reaction vessel. Trace amounts of pyridine were
removed through an additional distillation. The remaining material in the reaction vessel was allowed to
cool and subsequent batches initiated by adding 1 equivalent of D2O (1.00 g, 50.0 mmol) to the reaction
vessel through the septum, followed by a stoichiometric amount of HCP (13.25 g, 50.05 mmol). The
order of addition is critical to minimize impurity formation resulting from the SN2 reaction of pyridine
with HCP. The yields for batches 1ꢀ7 were 76% (9.2 g, 76 mmol), 95%, 84%, 70%, 73%, 50%, and 50%,
respectively, after which no further product was obtained, presumably due to catalyst decomposition.
Synthesis of CDCl3 catalyzed by SPS. A 50ꢀmL round bottom flask was charged with HCP (13.25 g,
50.05 mmol, 1.0 equiv), followed by D2O (3.00 g, 150 mmol, 3.0 equiv). A magnetic stirꢀbar was added
to the reaction vessel, followed by 12 mol % SPS (1.124 g, 6.20 mmol, 0.12 equiv). The central ground
glass joint was equipped with a 10 mL DeanꢀStark apparatus and a Liebigꢀcondenser. To the DeanꢀStark
trap was added D2O (1.00 g, 50.0 mmol, 1.0 equiv). The entire system was then flushed with nitrogen gas.
The flask was slowly heated to 105 °C and maintained at that temperature throughout the distillation. The
distillation was continued until no more CDCl3 was being collected in the DeanꢀStark trap. The collected
distillate sometimes contained small amounts of D2O, which were removed from the CDCl3 using a
separatory funnel and then returned to the reaction vessel. The organic phase was then dried over sodium
sulfate to remove any remaining D2O. The remaining material in the reaction vessel was allowed to cool
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and subsequent batches initiated by adding 1 equivalent of D2O (1.00 g, 50.0 mmol) to the reaction
vessel, followed by a stoichiometric amount of HCP (13.25 g, 50.05 mmol). The yields for batches 1ꢀ7
were 67% (8.1 g, 67 mmol), 81%, 85%, 82%, 72%, 69%, and 56%, respectively, after which no further
product was obtained, presumably due to catalyst decomposition.
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Synthesis of CDCl3 catalyzed by PVP. A 50ꢀmL round bottom flask was charged with HCP (13.25 g,
50.05 mmol, 1.0 equiv), followed by D2O (2.00 g, 100 mmol, 2.0 equiv). A magnetic stirꢀbar was added
to the reaction vessel, followed by 19 mol % PVP (1.0 g, 0.017 mmol, 0.17 equiv). The central ground
glass joint was equipped with a 10ꢀmL DeanꢀStark apparatus and a Liebigꢀcondenser. To the DeanꢀStark
trap was added D2O (1.00 g, 75.0 mmol, 1.0 equiv). The entire system was then flushed with nitrogen gas.
The flask was slowly heated to 90°C and maintained at that temperature throughout the distillation. The
distillation was continued until no more CDCl3 was collected in the DeanꢀStark trap. The collected
distillate sometimes contained small amounts of D2O, which were removed from the CDCl3 using a
separatory funnel and then returned to the reaction vessel. The organic phase was then dried over sodium
sulfate to remove any remaining D2O. The remaining material in the reaction vessel was allowed to cool
and subsequent batches initiated by adding 1 equivalent of D2O (1.00 g, 50.0 mmol) to the reaction
vessel, followed by a stoichiometric amount of HCP (13.25 g, 50.05 mmol). The yields for batches 1ꢀ11
were 62%, 84% (10.1 g, 84 mmol), 80%, 80%, 82%, 82%, 80%, 80%, 84%, 80% and 82%.
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Determining the purity of the CDCl3 product. The purity of the CDCl3 was determined to be 99.7% D by
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calculating the ratio of CHCl3:CDCl3 using a protiated internal standard via quantitative H NMR, a
deuterated internal standard via quantitative 2H NMR, and 13CꢀNMR spectroscopy.
Funding Sources
The NMR facilities at UWꢀMadison are funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF; CHEꢀ
9208463, CHEꢀ9629688) and National Institutes of Health (NIH; RR08389ꢀ01). The QꢀExactive mass
spectrometer was acquired with funds from an NIHꢀS10 award through the National Institutes of Health
(NIHꢀ1S10OD020022ꢀ1).
Supporting Information. Toxicity information, costꢀvolumeꢀprofit analysis and details for purity
determination.
References
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