Tagging drugs with heavy hydrogen made as easy as flicking a light switch

Close up of designer light installation, showing see through glass lamp and light bulb with filament illuminated.

Source: Shutterstock

Photoredox reaction simplifies metabolism studies by swapping hydrogen for deuterium or tritium

Tracking isotope-labelled drugs as they pass through the body might become as easy as switching on a light thanks to a photocatalytic reaction that attaches heavy hydrogen tags to molecules. However, isotope labelling is an often lengthy process. In several reactions, chemists need to install chemical handles in different positions and then swap each for a heavy hydrogen.