Abstract

The biogenetically interesting, structurally unique and biologically active metabolites of mangrove plants, with special growing environment such as high salinity, low oxygen and high humidity, have long been a research subject for chemists and pharmacologists during the last few decades. Based on the previous summaries on mangrove plants, this review elaborates the great recent progress of the chemistry and biological activities of diverse and complex metabolites in mangroves and some of their associated plants according to the structure types: terpenoids, alkaloids, polysulfides, phenolic molecules and miscellaneous, with the combination of their sources and bioactivities, covering the literatures from 2008 to 2014.

Keywords: Mangrove plant, terpenoid, limonoids, polysulfide, phenolic compounds, bioactivity.