Eleven C2-substituted derivatives of resveratrol (trans-3,4',5-trihydroxystilbene, RES) were prepared by partial synthesis from RES and evaluated for their cytotoxic activities against a human nasopharyngeal epidermoid tumor cell line KB. Among them, compounds 2 and 3 were more active than 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), an anticancer drug, and compound 5f exhibited similar activity to 5-FU. On the basis of the biological results, structure-activity relationships were discussed.