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    Fiber Optics – Synthesis of Low Water peak optical fiber

    Deuterium gas is used in manufacturing optical fiber. Optical properties of optical fiber deteriorate due to water absorption. Deuteration of optical fibers decreases the transmission losses due to water absorption and extends the life of the cable.

    Semiconductors

    Deuterium treatment in semiconductor devices leads increased lifespan of the devices.

    OLED Applications:

    Replacement of C-H bond with more stable C-D bond increases the life span of OLED material without loss of efficiency.

    Pharmaceuticals – Deuterated APIs and Drugs

    Due to higher biological half-life, deuterium labeled drugs offer the advantage of sustained release in body for a longer time which increases the potency of drugs and hence, substantially lowers the recommended dosage of medicines. Incorporating deuterium in place of hydrogen can exhibit improved pharmacokinetic or toxicological properties due to the stronger deuterium-carbon bond modifying their metabolism. Replacement of hydrogen with deuterium in drug molecules may also have the effect of lowering toxicity by reducing the formation of a toxic metabolite. It is learnt that deuteration typically has no effect on biological potency or selectivity

    Deuterated Compounds - NMR Solvents and precursors:

    Deuterated solvents are routinely used in NMR spectroscopy to avoid hydrogen interference from solvent and “deuterium lock” signal is used to compensate for any drifting of the magnetic field.

    The NMR Solvents that are widely used include Chloroform-d, Dimethyl sulphoxide-d6, Acetone-d6, Acetonitrile-d3 and Benzene-d6. These solvents are imported in huge quantities by NMR users in India.

    Deuterated compounds are used as precursor for synthesis of Deuterated APIs/Drugs (selective deuteration), e.g Methyl Iodide-d3 is a common source for –CD3 group introduction in a molecule of interest.

    Deuterium in Life Science - Heavy Water in biomolecule stabilization

    Heavy water has been reported to have a protective effect on biomolecules (proteins and nucleic acids), cells and simple multicellular organisms against thermal shock. The potential of heavy water has been demonstrated in stabilization of the oral polio vaccine.

    Heavy Water - Nutrition and metabolism studies

    Heavy Water is used for assessing the nutrition intake in infants of lactating mother. The lactating mother is administered with small quantity of Heavy Water and the same is analyzed in the milk samples of mother and excretive samples of infant for nutritional uptake.

    Probing biological phenomena

    D2O provides unique avenues for exploring basic mechanisms of biological phenomenon.

    Last updated on: 12-Apr-2019