Isotope Labeling of Pharmaceuticals — Using Organometallic Catalysis to Improve Drug Discovery and Development

During his Ph.D. studies, Vitus Juel Enemærke researched new strategies to incorporate stable and radioactive isotopes into pharmaceutical compounds. Isotope-labeled material plays a crucial role in drug development, where it is used for detailed studies of pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics. Vitus used carbon monoxide containing either stable ¹³C or radioactive ¹⁴C as a synthetic building block in transition metal-catalyzed carbonylative cross-coupling reactions for the late-stage introduction of isotope labels.

The new research findings contribute to the understanding of carbonylative cross-coupling reactions, expand the toolbox that is available to isotope chemists, and offer new opportunities to accelerate the development of new drugs.

The Ph.D. study was completed at the Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center (iNANO), Faculty of Natural Sciences, Aarhus University.

This summary was prepared by the Ph.D. student.

Time: Friday, 25 September 2026 at 13:15.
Place: Building 1514, room 213, Auditorium I, Department of Chemistry, Aarhus University, Langelandsgade 140, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark.
Title of Ph.D. thesis: Carbonylation Strategies for Isotope Labeling of Small-Molecule and Peptide Pharmaceuticals
Contact information: Vitus Juel Enemærke, e-mail: vje@inano.au.dk, tel.: +45 42 79 27 00.
Members of the assessment committee:
Professor A. Stephen K. Hashmi, Catalysis Research Laboratory (CaRLa), and Organic-Chemical Institute, Heidelberg University, Germany.
Associate Professor Jiwoong Lee, The Novo Nordisk Foundation CO₂ Research Center (CORC), and Department of Chemistry, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
Professor Alexander Zelikin, (chair), Department of Chemistry, Aarhus University, Denmark.
Main supervisor: Professor Troels Skrydstrup, Carbon Dioxide Activation Center (CADIAC), The Novo Nordisk Foundation CO₂ Research Center (CORC), Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center (iNANO), and Department of Chemistry, Aarhus University, Denmark.
Language: The Ph.D. dissertation will be defended in English

The defense is public.
The Ph.D. thesis is available for reading at the Graduate School of Natural Sciences/GSNS, Ny Munkegade 120, building 1521, 8000 Aarhus C.