Tritium in Deuterated Compounds

Abstract

IN the past few years deuterated compounds have become readily available and are in wide use, especially as solvents for NMR spectroscopy. D. Arigoni has informed us (personal communication) that heavy water (D₂O) can contain appreciable quantities of tritium. It has been known for some time that tritium is present in D₂O obtained as a residue after the prolonged electrolysis of natural water¹. But most users of deuterium compounds seem to be unaware of the presence of tritium, often in amounts which require a licence for possession. Those using tritium as a tracer should be cautioned regarding the potential contamination resulting from the use of D₂O and other deuterated compounds. We have measured the tritium content of several commercial deuterated compounds which were in routine use in our laboratory, and the results are summarized in Table 1. All the compounds had a nominal deuterium content >99%.