Anthracene derivatives of Asphodelaceae plants and their biological activities

Medicinal plants are the most important resources for obtaining and developing new drugs and have recently attracted more pharmacological and industrial interest. Anthracene derivatives are one of the important phenolic compounds that naturally occur in plants. They exhibit bioactivities such as anticancer, antimicrobial, immune-suppressive, antioxidant, antipyretic, anti-inflammatory, and laxative effects. Anthraquinones and anthraquinones dimers are considered important chemotaxonomic markers for plants in the family Asphodelaceae. Many anthracenes and anthracene derivatives from Asphodelaceae taxa were known for their biological activity demonstrated in in vitro and in vivo biological assays. In this study, research published between 1963 and 2025 on anthracenes from Asphodelaceae taxa and their biological activities was analyzed by searching scientific databases such as PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar, Web of Knowledge, and other web sources. As a result of these analyses, preanthraquinones (1–18), anthrones (19–43), anthraquinones (44–91), phenylanthraquinones (92–119), and anthraquinone dimers (120–162) and their biological activities are summarized, providing an overview of naturally bioactive anthracenes from Asphodelaceae that could serve as potential leads for new drug discovery.