Current developments of coumarin-based anti-cancer agents in medicinal chemistry.

Cancer is one of the leading health hazards and the prominent cause of death in the world. A number of anticancer agents are currently in clinical practice and used for treatment of various kinds of cancers. There is no doubt that the existing arsenal of anticancer agents is insufficient due to the high incidence of side effects and multidrug resistance. In the efforts to develop suitable anticancer drugs, medicinal chemists have focused on coumarin derivatives. Coumarin is a naturally occurring compound and a versatile synthetic scaffold possessing wide spectrum of biological effects including potential anticancer activity. This review article covers the current developments of coumarin-based anticancer agents and also discusses the structure-activity relationship of the most potent compounds.