Bromination of phenols in bromoperoxidase-catalyzed oxidations

Phenol and ortho-substituted derivatives furnish products of selective para-bromination, if treated with sodium bromide, hydrogen peroxide, and the vanadate(V)-dependent bromoperoxidase I from the brown alga Ascophyllum nodosum. Relative rates of bromination in morpholine-4-ethane sulfonic acid (MES)-buffered aqueous tert-butanol (pH 6.2) increase by a factor 32, as the ortho-substituent in a phenol changes from F via Cl, OCH₃, C(CH₃)₃, and H to CH₃. The polar effect in phenol bromination by the enzymatic method, according to a Hammett-correlation (ρ=−3), compares to reactivity of molecular bromine under identical conditions (ρ=−2). Hypobromous acid is not able to electrophilically substitute bromine for hydrogen at pH 6.2 in aqueous tert-butanol. The tribromide anion behaves in MES-buffered aqueous tert-butanol as electrophile (ρ∼−3), showing a similar polar effect in phenol bromination as molecular bromine.