Exceptionally low-temperature carbon--hydrogen/carbon--deuterium exchange reactions of organic and organometallic compounds catalyzed by the Cp*(PMe(3))IrH(ClCH(2)Cl)(+) cation.

Because of the role that metal-mediated carbon-hydrogen bond activation could play in the conversion of saturated hydrocarbons to more useful, functionalized organic compounds, much effort has gone into developing mild methods for carrying out this transformation in solution.1 Most of the classical methods for activating C-H bonds involve oxidative addition reactions with uncharged, electron-rich, coordinatively unsaturated metal centers (eq 1). Recently, however, several new C-H activation reactions have been discovered that take place at cationic “electrophilic” late transition metal centers, creating a resurgence of interest in this class of C-H activating reactions (eq 2).2-8 Most of the