1. Studies on Polycyclic Polyprenylayed Acylphloroglucinols (PPAP) and their bioactivities.

Natural polycyclic polyprenylated acylphloroglucinols (PPAPs), with a highly oxygenated and densely substituted bicyclo[3.3.1]nonane-2,4,9-trione or other related core  structures decorated with prenyl or geranyl side chains, were a special class of complex natural products that only isolated from plants of the family Guttiferae so far. This kind of metabolites showed a wide variety of biological activities such as antitumor, antimicrobial, anti-HIV, antioxidant, and especially in the CNS as modulators of neurotransmitters associated with neuronal damage and depression. In recent years, the fascinating chemical structures and intriguing biological activities of PPAPs have attracted widespread attention from phytochemical, organic synthetical, and pharmacological endeavors.

Since 2008, our team has completed chemical constituent studies of 18 Guttiferae plants, totally 586 PPAPs with 40 different carbon skeletons including 25 novel ones were isolated. More than 30 SCI papers have been published by our team in this field. And several isolates have been tested to possess obvious antitumor activities as well as the most potent agonists and blockers of Cav3.1 and Nav1.5.

2. Studies on diterpenoid constituents and their activities from plants of the genus Salvia:

Salvia, which includes 700~1050 species worldwide, is largest genus of the Labiatae family. The name “Salvia” comes from the Latin word “Salvare”, which means “to heal”. Since ancient times, many Salvia species, such as S. miltiorrhiza, S. prionitis, S. divinorum, and S. officinalis, have been used as folk medicine through-out the world for more than sixty different ailments ranging from aches to epilepsy, and mainly to treat colds, bronchitis, tuberculosis, hemorrhage, menstrual disorders, and cardiovascular diseases. are all used as folk medicines in the different area.

The chemical constituents of Salvia species have been extensive studied for more than seventy years. The first investigation on Salvia diterpenoids can be traced back to 1928. During the last several decades, the diterpenoids from Salvia species and their biological activities have been studied extensively by the scientists allover the world, and more than 800 new diterpenoids including abietanes, clerodanes, icetexanes, labdanes, primranes, and kauranes with different oxygenations and cleavage patterns have been isolated and characterized.

Hengduanshan mountains is one of the three distribution centers of this genus with extremely rich resources and variety habitats as well as complex topography. During the past 12 years, we have investigated the chemical constituents of 12 Salvia plants; more than 400 isolates 8 one with unprecedented architectures were isolated and characterized, and 24 SCI papers about the terpenoid studies of Salvia plants have been published. In addition, several isolates were found to possess significant antitumor, antidiabetic, and anti-platelet aggregation activities.

3. the exploitation, research and utilization of traditional medicinal plant