Chemical constituents of plants from the genus Symplocos.

The chemical constituents of Symplocos genus were reviewed with 90 structures and 28 references cited. These constituents include triterpenoids, flavonoids, lignans, phenols, steroids, alkaloids, and iridoids. Triterpenoids are the dominant constituents within the genus Symplocos, some of them exhibited antiproliferative effects. Some phenolic glycoside derivatives showed inhibitory activity against snake-venom phosphodiesterase I and human nucleotide pyrophosphatase phosphodiesterase.