Several new (E) stilbenes were synthesized by a combination of a Wittig olefination followed by Mizoroki-Heck coupling reactions. These compounds were screened for antitumor activity in a panel of 8 human cancer cell lines by a colorimetric SRB assay. Several of these compounds exhibit strong cytotoxicity. The most active compound of this series showed an average IC50 value of 0.03 mu mol; it acts by apoptosis as shown by a dye-exclusion test, an extra acridine orange/ethidium bromide staining and DNA-laddering experiments. (C) 2012 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.
(E)‐stilbenes were synthesized by Mizoroki–Heck reactions and tested for their ability to inhibit the enzymes acetyl‐ and butyrylcholinesterase. Several of them are good inhibitors of butyrylcholinesterase; one of them carrying an extra fluorine substituent is a 94‐fold stronger inhibitor of butyrylcholinesterase than of acetylcholinesterase.