Phenolics are formed by three different biosynthetic pathways: (i) the shikimate/chorizmate or succinylbenzoate pathway, which produces the phenyl propanoid derivatives (C6–C3); (ii) the acetate/malonate or polyketide pathway, which produces the side-chain-elongated phenyl propanoids, including the large group of flavonoids (C6–C3–C6) and some quinones; and (iii) the acetate/mevalonate pathway, which produces the aromatic terpenoids, mostly monoterpenes, by dehydrogenation reactions. The aromatic amino acid phenylalanine, synthesized in the shikimic acid pathway, is the common precursor of phenol containing amino acids and phenolic compounds.
In plants, the phenolic units are esterified or methylated and are submitted to conjugation, which means that the natural phenols are mostly found in the glycoside form instead of the aglycone form.
In olive oil, tyrosol forms esters with fatty acids. In rye, alkylresorcinols are phenolic lipids.
Some acetylations involve terpenes like geraniol. Those molecules are called meroterpenes (a chemical compound having a partial terpenoid structure).
Methylations can occur by the formation of an ether bond on hydroxyl groups forming O-methylated polyphenols. In the case of the O-methylated flavone tangeritin, all of the five hydroxyls are methylated, leaving no free hydroxyls of the phenol group. Methylations can also occur on directly on a carbon of the benzene ring like in the case of poriol, a C-methylated flavonoid.