Flipped Spin‐State Resists Cobalt Poisoning for the Durable Electrocatalytic Deuteration of <i>N</i> ‐Heterocyclic Compounds
ABSTRACT Electrocatalytic deuteration represents a sustainable method for synthesizing deuterated N ‐heterocycles, which are scaffolds for drug development. However, the utility of this transformation is severely restrained by strong orbital interactions between metal sites and the lone pairs of N atoms that lead to irreversible catalyst deactivation. Here, we propose a Mn 3 Co 7 alloy electrocatalyst that triggers a high‐spin‐to‐low‐spin transition in Co. The flipped spin state originates from tuned d ‐electron pairing, promoting electron occupation in antibonding orbitals and weakening the Co–N bond. The reduced adsorption energy that facilitates the desorption of N ‐heterocycles is revealed to be the key factor driving the improved catalytic durability. This strategy enables a scaled‐up electrosynthesis with a yield of 92.5% at 1.25 A to obtain 10 g of deuterated piperazine hydrochloride. The methodological universality of diverse unsaturated N ‐heterocycles highlights the application potential.
Authors
- Ying Gao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0325-2126)
- Cuibo Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9578-8173)
- Chuanqi Cheng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3366-8395)
- Haotian Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3552-8978)
- Rui Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2196-8435)
- Bin Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0542-1819)
- Meng He
Institutions
- Tianjin University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Angewandte Chemie International Edition
- Published
- 2026-07-30
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.7797032
- Primary Topic
- Chemical Reactions and Isotopes
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- China Postdoctoral Science Foundation