Isotope-Labeled Methanol-Derived O-Alkylisoureas as Versatile and Practical Agents for d3-Methylation, 13C-Methylation, and 13CD3-Methylation.

The development of highly efficient and practical methods for the incorporation of stable isotopes into organic molecules are valuable for the pharmaceutical industry. The introduction of deuterium or 13C atoms can enable the direct tracing of the drug molecule without substantially altering its structure or function, and the introduction of CD3- or 13C-labeled methyl into drug molecules is one of the most commonly employed methodology. However, the key issue that plagues the current research area is the lack of highly efficient, cheap and practical reagent. Herein, methyl-d3-N,N'-diisopropylcarbamimidate (MDIC-d3), methyl-13C-N,N'-diisopropylcarbamimidate (MDIC-13C) and methyl-13C-d3-N,N'-diisopropylcarbamimidate (MDIC-13CD3), synthesized via reaction of diisopropylcarbodiimide with the corresponding stable isotope labelled methanols, have been developed for the efficient d3-methylation, 13C-methylation and 13CD3-methylation of complex molecules bearing several possible reactive sites with good selectivity, high-level deuterium and 13C incorporation, and good functional group tolerance under external base-free conditions. Additionally, these reagents can also be employed for the highly efficient isotope-labeled methylation of arenes via palladium-catalyzed Suzuki-Miyaura type cross-coupling.