“…Moreover, in the presence of both activating and deactivating groups, the effect of activating groups prevails [48]. On the other hand, it is important to note that the electrophilic attack of HO • on the carbon bearing the nitro group is rather difficult [2,49], whereas the carboxyl group is much more labile and HO • attack on benzoic acid derivatives may yield decarboxylated products [50][51][52]. Therefore, for the studied HBAs, the HO • addition is mainly governed by the directing effect of OH substituents and may occur either on the carbon bearing the carboxyl group (with the corresponding release of CO 2 ) or on a non substituted position (Scheme S1, ESI).…”