Molecular deuteration of organic compounds is an essential prerequisite in many 2H (deuterium) NMR, infrared, mass spectroscopy, and neutron studies. Despite this wide need, only limited global research initiatives in the field of deuterium labelling have been available, where the majority of these programs only focus on biological deuteration of proteins and lipids. This has restricted the experiments that can be performed, and formed a bottle-neck for advancing the applications.
In this paper we will discuss the recent advancements and the impact of deuteration on the research outcomes achieved by using deuterated molecules produced by the National Deuteration Facility of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation. The chemical deuteration of ionic liquids1, unsaturated lipids2,3, uncommon surfactants4, sugars5, and exotic heterocyclic and aromatic compounds6,7 has made possible a wide range of science investigations which also could be specifically useful in NMR studies. Methods of deuteration and NMR methods for quantifying the degree of isotope labelling of molecular sites will be presented, which includes the deuterium-induced NMR isotope shifts of quaternary 13C resonances in deuterated molecules.8