A mechanistic study of the stoichiometric and catalytic H/D exchange reactions involving cationiciridium complexes is presented. Strong evidence suggests that both stoichiometric and catalytic reactionsproceed via a monohydrido-iridium species. Stoichiometric deuterium incorporation reactions introducemultiple deuterium atoms into the organic products when aryliridium compounds Cp*PMe
3Ir(C
6H
4X)(OTf)(X = H,
o-CH
3,
m-CH
3,
p-CH
3) react with D
2. Multiple deuteration occurs at the unhindered positions (
paraand
meta) of toluene, when X = CH
3. The multiple-deuteration pathway is suppressed in the presence ofan excess of the coordinating ligand, CH
3CN. The compound Cp*PMe
3IrH(OTf) (
1-OTf) is observed inlow-temperature, stoichiometric experiments to support a monohydrido-iridium intermediate that isresponsible for catalyzing multiple deuteration in the stoichiometric system. When paired with acetone-
d6,[Cp*PMe
3IrH
3][OTf] (
4) catalytically deuterates a wide range of substrates with a variety of functional groups.Catalyst
4 decomposes to [Cp*PMe
3Ir(
3-CH
2C(OH)CH
2)][OTf] (
19) in acetone and to [Cp*PMe
3IrH(CO)][OTf] (
1-CO) in CH
3OH. The catalytic H/D exchange reaction is not catalyzed by simple H
+ transfer, butinstead proceeds by a reversible C-H bond activation mechanism.