Asymmetric sulfoxidation by means of a chloroperoxidase from Caldariomyces fumago and hydrogen peroxide as the oxygen source was studied for a series of sterically well-defined substrates. The stereochemistry of the sulfoxidation was the same for all substrates studied. While 2,3-dihydrobenzo[b]thiophene (1) is an excellent substrate (giving 99.5% yield and 99% e.e. of the (R)-sulfoxide), replacement of a methylene group by either a more sterically demanding group or a heteroatom caused a substantial decrease in reactivity or in reactivity as well as enantioselectivity. A further investigation of the lowered catalytic efficiency of chloroperoxidase with these substrates has been carried out in a series of competitive reactions. Thus, benzo[1,3]oxathiole (5) acted as a competitive inhibitor of the enzyme, whereas 1-thiochroman (2) and 1-thiochroman-4-one (3) were shown to be too sterically demanding to significantly compete for the active site. For the oxidation of 2, 3, and 5, it was found that in the low CPO concentration range the chemical yield after 60 min reaction time increased almost linearly with the amount of CPO used. The products from 2 and 3 could be obtained in over 80% yield with an e.e. exceeding 96%. Chloroperoxidase was also found to be an effective catalyst in the oxidation of labile episulfides, yielding the corresponding anti-sulfoxides quantitatively and giving 12% e.e. of (1R, 2R)-sulfoxide in the oxidation of propylene sulfide.