Effects of Oplopanax elatus have known to various pharmaceutical therapies. However, chemical prosperities in the plant are rarely investigated. In order to detect biological activity, we evaluated the antioxidant activity of five fractions from methanolic extracts in each part of O. elatus. Also, contents of polyphenols and polysaccharides were measured. Five fractions were of sub-fractions using n-hexane, ethyl-acetate, n-butanol, and water from methanolic extracts. Ethylacetate and n-butanol fractions from stem and root exhibited strong antioxidant activity and high total phenolics content. On the HPLC analysis, ten free phenolics, including p-hydroxybenzoic acid, chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, syringic acid, p-cou maric acid, ferulic acid, naringin, hesperidin, quercetin and trans-cinnamic acid, were identified from the fractions and were shown to different quantitative proportions. Furthermore, ethylacetate and n-butanol fraction had the highest amount of chlorogenic acids, one of the cinnamic acid derivatives possessing pharmacological properties. These results indicated that the fractions of O. elatus, as well as methanolic extracts, could be used as natural antioxidative ingredients.

Allergen-removed-extract was produced from Rush verniciflua by two phase methods. Phase one was high temperature treatment of Rush verniciflua tree to get allergen-removed-extract. Phase two was extraction of solution from phase one product using water or organic solvents. The solutions from above method show high antioxidant activity, anticancer activity, and improvement in lung function, but did not contain urushiol family compounds.

Four olefinic catechols, commonly referred to as urushiol were isolated from the sap of Korean Rhus verniciflua Stokes and had the stronger inhibitory effects on the reverse transcriptase of AIDS. The hexane extract with a inhibitory effects on reverse transcriptase was purified by silica and ODS gel column chromatography. The active compounds were identified by MS and 1H-NMR as 3-[8' (Z), 11' (Z), 14' -pentadecatrienyl]catechol, 3-[8' (Z), 11' (Z)-pentadecadienyl]catechol, 3-[8' (Z)-penta- decenyl]catechol, and 3-pentadecylcatechol. All of these compounds showed strong inhibitory effects on reverse transcriptase of AIDS, in which 3-pentadecylcatechol exhibited the highest activity (IC50 : 10.87 μg/ml).

Ethanol and butanol fractionation of E. senticosus showed strong anti-oxidant activity, and methanol and water extracts also had high anti-oxidant activity. The anti-oxidant activities in ethanol and butanol fractionation were higher than or similar to those of α-tocopherol. The cytotoxic effect of root extract of E. senticosus was evaluated on seven different human cancer cell lines, The extracts of leaf and stem of E. senticosus also had strong antioxidant activity, but the antioxidant activity in root extract was higher than those in leaf and stem extracts. Methanol, hexane, and aqueous fraction layer had much higher inhibitory activities on lipid peroxidation in rat liver microsomes compared with α-tocopherol. The effect of root extract of E. senticosus was evaluated on six human cancer cell lines. The values of 50% growth inhibition (GI50) for the extracts were mostly below 30μg/ml, and the extracts are considered as active inhibitory compounds on cancer cells.

Four urushiol components isolated from the sap of Korean lacquer tree(Rhus vernicifera Stokes) showed a strong antifungal activity, but they have no or low activity the bacteria and yeasts. Among them, 3-pentadecylcatechol marked the highest activity on the spore germination of Cladosporium herbarum (MIC:4μg/ml).