Diferulic acids

[2] They have been found in the cell walls of most plants, but are present at higher levels in the grasses (Poaceae) and also sugar beet and Chinese water chestnut.

[7][8] 8-5' Non cyclic diferulic acid has been identified to be covalently linked to carbohydrate moieties of the arabinogalactan-protein fraction of gum arabic.

[9] Diferulic acids are thought to have a structural function in plant cell walls, where they form cross-links between polysaccharide chains.

They have been extracted attached to a few sugar molecules at both ends, but so far no definitive proof of them linking separate polysaccharide chains has been found.

Identification is often by high performance liquid chromatography with a UV detector or by LC-MS. Alternatively they can be derivatised to make them volatile and therefore suitable for GC-MS. Curcumin can be hydrolyzed (alkaline) to yield two molecules of ferulic acid.