Deuterium enrichment by selective photoinduced dissociation of a multihalogenated organic compound

Abstract From the Canadian patent

A method for deuterium enrichment by photoinduced dissociation which uses as the deuterium source a multihalogenated organic compound selected from the group consisting of dihalomethane, a trihalomethane a 1,2-di-, haloethene, a trihaloethene a tetrahaloethane and a pen-, tahaloethane. The multihalogenated organic compound is subjected to intense infrared radiation at a preselected wavelength to selectively excite and therby induce dissociation of substantially only those molecules containing deuterium to provide a deuterium enriched dissociation product. The deuterium enriched product may be combusted with oxygen to provide deuterium enriched water. The deuterium depleted undissociated …