(-)-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.