Abstract The Echinacea-derived immunostimulator and HIV-1 integrase inhibitor (−)-chicoric acid (= 2, 3-bis {[3-(3, 4-dihydroxyphenyl)-1-oxoprop-2-enyl] oxy} butanedioic acid; 1a) was conveniently prepared via a silane-promoted Pd-mediated chemoselective hydrogenolysis of its perbenzylated derivative 12a, which was generated from an efficient and reliable carbodiimide-mediated coupling reaction between the caffeic acid dibenzyl ether ...