**1. Introduction**

*Zanthoxylum* genus is one of the biggest genera belonging to the Rutaceae family, including 212 species in the world and widely distributed in the warm or tropic temperate zones. Research findings showed that *Zanthoxylum* genus have many interesting biological activities such as antifungal, antibacterial, antiviral, antimalarial, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, tuberculosis, cardiovascular, and liver protective activities, especially cytotoxic activities. From the *Zanthoxylum* species, many compounds have been isolated, including alkaloids, lignans, coumarins, flavonoids, terpenoids, steroids, etc.; they are the specific classes of compounds in *Zanthoxylum* genus. The main components presented in this genus are alkaloids and coumarins, with significant biological activities, especially anticancer activities. In particular, this genus contains high levels of benzophenanthridine alkaloids that not only shown their potential cytotoxic *in vitro* but also their ability to inhibit tumor *in vivo* through many mechanisms, resistant against many pathogenics including MRSA strain (methicillin-resistant *Staphylococcus aureus*)—a bacterium caused dangerous infections in hospital [1] and also shown anti-inflammatory activity [2] (**Figure 1**).

**Figure 1.**

*Photographs of the* Zanthoxylum *species. The images were obtained from http://tropical.theferns.info.*
