ABSTRACT
The aerobic degradation of chlorinated arene hydrocarbons and carboxylates, including the important group of PCBs, and chlorobenzoates that are produced from them as metabolites, is generally initiated by dihydroxylation of the rings to dihydrodiols followed by dehydrogenation to catechols. Halide may be lost simultaneously and, for 2-halogenated benzoates both halide and carboxyl. Salient aspects are summarized, and attention is drawn to selected aspects of enzyme inhibition. The aerobic degradation of halogenated phenols takes place, however, by monooxygenation and is discussed in Part 2 of this chapter. It is noted here only for the role of chlorocatechols produced from chlorophenols and chloroanilines.
