A series of new 4β-anilino-4′-O-demethyl-4-desoxypodophyllotoxin derivatives were prepared and evaluated for their cytotoxicities against four human cancer cell lines including KB, KB/VCR, A549 and 95D. Most compounds showed better growth-inhibition activities against tested cell lines than that of etoposide (VP-16). Preliminary structure–activity relationships (SARs) were concluded and it indicated that the side chains substituted at 4β ...