Proanthocyanidins are a class of polyphenols found in a variety of plants. Chemically, they are oligomeric flavonoids. Many are oligomers of catechin and epicatechin and their gallic acid esters. More complex polyphenols, having the same polymeric building block, form the group of tannins. Flavanols are distinguished at the core molecule by the hydroxyl group as opposed to the ketone near same position on the pyran ring in the generally yellow class of flavonoids. Colorless proanthocyanidins are a strictly defined group of 3 flavanols naturally occurring as a mix of monomers, di-mers, and tri-mers of the catechin building block, which is a 4x-hydroxylation of the flavan-3-ol core. Proanthocyanidins were discovered in 1947 by Jacques Masquelier, who developed and patented techniques for the extraction of oligomeric proanthocyanidins from pine bark and grape seeds.