Podophyllotoxin is an important and much sought after antimitotic natural lead compound, since it paved the way for three hemisynthetic derivatives of podophyllotoxin, e.g., etoposide, teniposide and etopophos, which are widely used as anticancer drugs and show good clinical effects against several types of neoplasms. Although the publication of the recent reviews by Gordaliza in 2004 and You in 2005, which covered the literatures concerning podophyllotoxin until the early part of 2003, there have been significant number of works carried out on podophyllotoxin recently. Therefore, this review presents up-to-date coverage of podophyllotoxin in regard to hemisynthesis, biosynthesis, biological activities, mode of action and structure-activity relationship.

Matrine is a quinolizidine alkaloid isolated from the roots of Sophora flavescens (Kushen), Sophora tonkinensis, and Sophora alopecuroides (Kudouzi). Matrine and its derivatives have displayed a broad scope of biological properties such as anticancer activity, anti-inflammatory activity, antiviral activity, analgesic effect, anti-fibrotic activity, insecticidal activity, antimicrobial activity, etc. The present review has summarized the biological activities and structural modifications of matrine and its derivatives focused on their N-1 position and lactam ring from 2010 to 2015. In addition, the mechanism of action and structure-activity relationships of matrine and its derivatives are discussed.

Significant limonoids: new isolated limonoids, and recent developments in the total chemical synthesis, and structural modifications of limonoids regarding the bioactivities have been summarised.