Tribromoanisole is usually produced when naturally occurring airborne fungi and/or bacteria (usually Aspergillus sp., Penicillium sp., Actinomycetes, Botrytis cinerea, Rhizobium sp., or Streptomyces) are presented with brominated phenolic compounds, which they then convert into bromoanisole derivatives.
The next two steps convert the diphenylmethine group through bromination with NBS (or N-bromosuccinimide) and hydrolysis with silver acetate into a diphenylmethanol group without any change in configuration.