(-)-Arctigenin as a lead compound for anticancer agent.

(-)-Arctigenin, an important active constituent of the traditional Chinese herb Fructus Arctii, was found to exhibit various bioactivities, so it can be used as a good lead compound for further structure modification in order to find a safer and more potent medicine. (-)-Arctigenin derivatives 1-5 of (-)-arctingen were obtained by modifying with ammonolysis at the lactone ring and sulphonylation at C (6') and C (6″) and O-demethylation at CH3O-C (3'), CH3O-C (3″) and CH3O-C (4″), and their anticancer bioactivities were examined.

Synthesis of (-)-arctigenin derivatives and their anticancer activity.

The natural dibenzylbutyrolactone type lignanolide (-)-arctigenin, which was prepared from fructus arctii, showed obvious anticancer activity. The synthesis of four new (-)-arctigenin derivatives and their anticancer bioactivities were examined. The structures of the four new synthetic derivatives were elucidated.