Creating a Water-Soluble Resveratrol-Based Antioxidant by Site-Selective Enzymatic Glucosylation.

The phytochemical resveratrol (trans-3,5,4'-trihydroxystilbene) has drawn great interest as health-promoting food ingredient and potential therapeutic agent. However, resveratrol shows vanishingly low water solubility; this limits its uptake and complicates the development of effective therapeutic forms. Glycosylation should be useful to enhance resveratrol solubility, with the caveat that unselective attachment of sugars could destroy the molecule's antioxidant activity.