Patent Number: 051868687
Section: claims

1. A process for introducing high activity levels of tritium radiolabel into an organic compound having a chemically reducible site comprising a) reacting an organic solvented solution of alkali metal alkyl with gas comprising at least about 20% molar tritium gas in the presence of an alkyl tertiary amine thereby giving rise to high activity alkali metal tritide,  b) reacting the high activity alkali metal tritide of step a and a solution of aluminum halide thereby forming a solution of high activity alkali metal aluminum tritide and  c) thereafter admixing the solution of high activity alkali metal aluminum tritide with the organic compound having a chemically reducible site thereby directly reducing the chemically reducible site by introducing tritium atoms of the tritide thereinto in an amount equal to at least about 20% of the total reducing atoms introduced.  a) reacting a saturated hydrocarbon solvented solution of n-butyl lithium with a gas comprising at least about 80% molar tritium and the remainder essentially hydrogen in the presence of a tetra lower alkyl lower alkylene diamine thereby giving rise to high activity lithium tritide,  b) reacting the high activity lithium tritide of step a with a solution of aluminum halide thereby forming a solution of high activity lithium aluminum tritide and,  c) thereafter admixing the solution of high activity lithium aluminum tritide with the organic compound having a chemically reducible site thereby directly reducing the chemically reducible site by introducing tritium atoms of the tritide thereinto in an amount equal to at least about 80% of the total reducing atoms introduced. 2. The process of claim 1 wherein in step a the alkali metal is lithium. 3. The process of claim 2 wherein in step b the aluminum halide is aluminum bromide. 4. The process of claim 3 wherein in step a the alkyl tertiary amine is a tetra(lower alkyl) lower alkylenediamine. 5. The process of claim 4 wherein in step a the gas comprising at least about 20% mole tritium gas contains from 80 to 100% tritium gas. 6. The process of claim 4 wherein the tetra lower alkyl lower alkylene diamine is selected from tetramethylethylenediamine and tetraethylethylenediamine. 7. The process of claim 1 wherein in step a the gas comprising at least about 20% mole tritium comprises from 80 to 100% mole tritium. 8. The process of claim 7 wherein in step a the gas comprising from 80 to 100% mole tritium consists essentially of tritium. 9. A process for introducing high activity levels of tritium radiolabel into an organic compound having a chemically reducible site comprising