Morus, a plant genus from the family of Moraceae, most plants of which are used as traditional medicines in Asian counties. The root barks of Morus plants are normally called as Sang-Bai-Pi (SBP) in Chinese and used for the treatment of inflammatory and respiratory diseases. Decades of research on phytochemistry of SBP have led to the identification of various compounds, such as Diels–Alder-type adducts, flavonoids, benzofurans, stilbenes, polyhydroxylated alkaloids, etc. These compounds have showed a wide range of bioactive features including anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidative, anti-microbic, etc. This review focus on the bioactive compounds and their pharmacological effects of SBP which will help us fully understand the effective substances of SBP, and pave our way to further explore medicinal uses of SBP and comprehensive utilization of Morus species.

Armillaria mellea is a traditional Chinese medicinal and edible mushroom. Many cultured products of A. mellea have been used to develop commercial medicines in recent years. The chemical composition and activities of the major bioactive chemical components—polysaccharides—may be different because of differences in the raw materials used. Four polysaccharides (SP, CMP, CFBP and CFMP) were obtained from wild sporophores and cultured products (including mycelia, fermentation broth and fermentation mixture) of A. mellea. Their yields, carbohydrate contents, monosaccharide compositions, FT-IR spectra, NMR spectroscopy and antioxidant activities were investigated. All of the polysaccharides were composed of xylose, glucose and galactose without protein. Glucose was the dominant monosaccharide in SP, CMP and CFMP, whereas galactose was the dominant monosaccharide in CFBP. SP and CMP showed higher scavenging DPPH^• and ABTS^•+ activities and reducing power among four polysaccharides. The carbohydrate content and corresponding glucose percentage were positive influences on the antioxidant activities, whereas the corresponding xylose and galactose percentage were negative influences. A. mellea polysaccharides are potential natural antioxidants. Polysaccharides from cultured products, especially mycelia, are good substitutes for SP and are also potential sources for both dietary supplements and food industries.

Phytochemical investigation on the seeds of Caesalpinia decapetala led to the isolation of a new cassane diterpenoid with an unusual O bridge between C-19 and C-20, named phanginin Q (1), together with three known cassane diterpenoids, caesaljapin (2), caesaldekarin A (3), and caesaldekarin B (4). The structure of the new compound was elucidated by spectroscopic methods, including ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, HSQC, ¹H − ¹H COSY, HMBC, NOESY, and HR-ESI-MS.