This is a synthetic acetate (at the primary alcoholic group) of silybin (mixture of silybin A and B in ratio ca), which is an important starting material for the most effective method at present for preparative separation of silybin diastereoisomers by stereoselective enzymatic alcoholysis using Novozym 435 (lipase B from Candida antarctica). Stereochemically pure silybin isomers (silybin A and B) have been recently subjected to a growing interest thanks to their promising anticancer activities.