and here it is in sal, look ma no quote!
define variable a-ref = {a1 (1 2 3) a2},
b-ref = {b1 (4 5 6) b2},
c-ref = {c1 (7 8 9) c2},
ref-list = list(a-ref, b-ref, c-ref)
#a[list for refx in ref-list collect second(refx)]