Progress in the Total Synthesis of Antitumour Styryl Lactones

During the last years, the stereoselective synthesis of a small group of styryl lactones has increased the interest in synthetic organic chemistry in which many research groups have focused much of their efforts. This review gives an overview of the different approaches for the total synthesis of novel styryl lactones, which were found to possess marginal to significant cytotoxicities against several human tumors reported to date.