Swietenia is a genus in the plant family Meliaceae. This genus contains seven to eight known species, found in the tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas and West Africa. Thus far, more than 160 limonoids have been isolated from four species of the genus Swietenia. Limonoids are rich in structure type and biological activity, and these compounds are the main active components in the Swietenia species. This paper will give a comprehensive overview of the recent phytochemical and pharmacological research on the terpenes from Swietenia plants and encourage further drug discovery research.

Four rare 3-decalinoyltetramic acid derivatives, zofielliamides A–D (1–4), were obtained from cultures of kiwi-associated fungus Zopfiella sp. Their structures with absolute configurations were established by extensive spectroscopic methods and single crystal X-ray diffraction. The compounds possessed rare pentacyclic systems that might derive from a polyene precursor via [4 + 2] intramolecular Diels–Alder reactions. Compounds 1, 2, and 4 showed antibacterial activity against plant pathogen Pseudomonas syringae with MIC values of 64, 32, and 64 μg mL⁻¹, respectively.