Advance in research on insecticidal Celastraceae plants in China.

Many members of the Celastraceae plants have been evaluated on their biological activities.This paper summarized the progress of research on the insecticidal Celastraceae plants in China.So far,it is found that only polyol esters and alkaloids,with a β-dihydroagarofuran sesquiterpene skeleton from the Celastraceae plants,exhibit insecticidal activities.There are many reports focusing on antifeedant activity of the compounds against insect pests.More extensive researches were on stomach poison toxicity of insecticidal and narcotic activities of Celastrus angulatus and Tripterygium wilfordii. The current problems and prospects on this topic are also discussed.