Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)This work deals with the preparation of stilbene-based resveratrol analogs by employing the Perkin reaction, aiming at synthesizing potential antitumor lead compounds and evaluating their pharmacological activities. The proliferation inhibitor test against tumor cell lines identified analogs 9 and 11 as the most active among all synthesized derivatives, presenting IC(50) in micromolar range for certain cell lines. For study on the embryonic development, compounds 8 and 9 at the lowest tested concentration (41.7 mu M) that inhibited sea urchin egg development, but only after third cleavage were used. Both the compounds inhibited 100% of normal development since first cleavage. These data partially corroborated the results obtained with MTT assay using tumor cell lines. None of the tested compounds revealed hemolytic action in assay with mouse erythrocytes. (c) 2008 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.442701707Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Kardol Ind. Qufmica Ltda.Instituto Claude BernardFUNCAPBanco do NordesteFINEPPROPP-UFMSConselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)