New aryl isochroman structures have been identified in isolated softwo
od lignins by a combination of diagnostic NMR experiments. Such struct
ural units were recently identified in lignin-derived trimers from woo
d degraded by the DFRC (derivatization followed by reductive cleavage)
method, and have a plausible mechanism for their biosynthesis. Publis
hed by Elsevier Science Ltd.