Phenyl 3,5-di-tert-butyl-2-hy­droxy­benzoate

The title mol­ecule, C(21)H(26)O(3), has a six-membered planar carbon ring as the central core, substituted at position 1 with phen­oxy­carbonyl, at position 2 with hy­droxy and at positions 3 and 5 with tert-butyl groups. The structure shows two independent but very similar mol­ecules within the asymmetric unit. For both independent mol­ecules, the ester carboxyl­ate group is coplanar with the central core, as reflected by the small C—C—O—C torsion angles [179.95 (17) and 173.70 (17)°]. In contrast, the phenyl substituent is almost perpendicular to the carboxyl­ate –CO(2) fragment, as reflected by C—O—C—C torsion angles, ranging from 74 to 80°. The coplanarity between the central aromatic ring and the ester carboxyl­ate –CO(2)– group allows the formation of an intra­molecular hydrogen bond, with O⋯O distances of 2.563 (2) and 2.604 (2) Å.