In the course of our research aimed at a better understanding of the precise chemical mechanisms involved in the biosynthesis of lignins and lignans, we devised an easy and efficient access to 2-O-feruloyl-l-malate (1), 2-O-sinapoyl-l-malate (2), and 2-O-5-hydroxyferuloyl-l-malate (3) using carbodiimide-mediated Steglich esterification starting from commercially available l-(-)-malic acid and the corresponding cinnamic acids (Scheme [¹] ). ... Benzyl malate ester 7b was ...
