Metabolism of meta-bromobenzoic acid by the blocked mutant Ralstonia eutrophus B9 affords an enantiopure dearomatised halodiene-diol which we demonstrate is a versatile chiron for organic synthesis. The presence of the halogen leads to reactivity that is distinct to that observed for the non-halogenated analogue and also serves as a synthetic handle for further functionalisation.

Graphical abstract

A cyclohexadiene ligand prepared by microbial arene 1,2-dihydroxylation undergoes spontaneous rearrangement upon complexation to tricarbonyliron(0). Subsequent iron removal affords a novel route to formal arene 2,3-dihydroxylation products enantiomeric to those obtainable by direct microbial arene oxidation.

No abstract

We report the first synthesis of a cobalt Cp diene complex wherein the diene is derived by microbial dearomatising dihydroxylation of an aromatic ring. The complex has been characterised crystallographically and its structure is compared to that of an uncomplexed diene precursor.