An improved synthesis of resveratrol

In this article we report an improved total synthesis of resveratrol, increasing the overall yield from 22 to 71%. The synthesis reported in our previous publication was made up of two fundamental steps: a Wittig reaction and a Heck coupling. Here we studied these steps separately to increase the individual yields. The yield of the Wittig reaction was increased up to 98%; however, we could not find better reaction conditions for the Heck coupling than those reported in the previous article.