Natural New Bioactive Anthraquinones from Rubiaceae

Rubiaceae family belongs to the Gentianales, it contains 650 genera and 13,000 species and its worldwide distribution makes it the fourth largest angiosperms. Rubiaceae contains a large amount of anthraquinone compounds, especially in the roots. Anthraquinones are very important natural products with various bioactivities, including antibacterial, antiviral, cytotoxic and antitumor, which make it play an important role in recent research. In the previous study, many researchers have reported anthraquinones from Rubiaceae in different aspects. The present paper provides an overview of the bioactive properties of new naturally occurring anthraquinones and its structural diversity that have been isolated from the Rubiaceae family in recent years. The article covers the literature from 2007 to 2018, overall 95 new anthraquinones.