A Review on the Development of Semisynthetic Phytochemicals in theDiscovery of Anticancer Drugs

Cancer is a serious public health problem worldwide, and research into the development of new targeted cancer drugs is continuing intensively. A wide variety of approaches have been developed, ranging from traditional cytotoxic agents to modern targeted therapies, antibody-drug conjugates, immunotherapies, and advanced drug delivery systems, etc. The integration of omics strategies, bioinformatics, network pharmacology, molecular docking, molecular dynamics simulation, and artificial intelligence techniques into the process has accelerated the development of modern cancer treatments. While the search for different cancer treatment methods and anticancer drugs continues intensively, semi-synthetic drug designs still attract attention. As most targeted anticancer drugs are insufficient in clinical treatment, natural products and their derivatives are important in new multi-targeted anticancer drug research. Alongside traditional plant-derived anticancer agents, cardamonin, harmin, podophyllotoxin, β-carboline, magnolol, α-onocerin, boehmeriasin A, parthenolide, celastrol, pinosembrin, furochromone, curcumin, diosgenin, betulinic acid, ursolic acid, honokiol, goniodiol, scopoletin, caffeic acid, and pinocembrin derivatives have attracted interest due to their enhanced efficacy and selectivity relative to their natural analogs. These phytochemicals or their derivatives offer new strategies and have the potential to reduce the side effects of traditional treatments and overcome drug resistance. This review aims to discuss recent semisynthetic advancements in natural product research for anticancer drug development. It demonstrates that several semisynthetic anticancer candidates with enhanced selective anticancer effects compared to natural precursors have been developed, and that problems such as low bioactivity, poor solubility, or selectivity issues can be effectively resolved through the rational design of the chemical structures of their natural analogs.