Our previous studies showed that the natural compound berbamine, from Chinese herb Berberis amurensis, selectively induces apoptosis of imatinib (IM)-resistant-Bcr/Abl-expressing leukemia cells from the K562 cell line and CML patients. Here, a series of newberbamine derivatives were obtained by synthesis. In this series, high to very high activity in vitro has been found. Compounds 2e, 2g, 3f, 3k