A monohydroxycinnamic acid in which the hydroxy substituent is located at C-3 of the phenyl ring. It has a role as a human xenobiotic metabolite and a plant metabolite. Plants increased significantly during the germination process, which may be due to the activation of phenylalanine ammonialyase. The improvement of flavonoids led to significant enhancement of the antioxidant activities. It is a conjugate acid of a 3-coumarate. It can react with bromomethyl-benzene to get 3-[3-(phenylmethoxy)phenyl]-2-propenoic acid.
