Trans-stilbene and tropolone as chemical analogs with naturally occurring fungitoxic heartwood compounds were studied with respect to their fungitoxic potency. While stilbene showed no fungitoxic activity towards the fungi Aureobasidium pullulans var. melanogenum, Penicillium glabrum, and Trichoderma harzianum in the concentrations tested, the minimal inhibiting concentration of tropolone was 10(-3) M for Penicillium glabrum and Trichoderma harzianum, and 10(-5) M for Aureobasidium pullulans var. melanogenum. In all cases, the effect of tropolone was a fungistatic one. Using chemical analogs for assessing the chemical basis of the fungitoxicity of tropolone, this substance proved to be the only compound tested which possesses fungitoxic properties.