Lingzhi is the Chinese name given to the Ganoderma family of mushrooms, which was considered the most valuable medicine in ancient China and was believed to bring longevity, due to its mysterious power of healing the body and calming the mind. Today, Lingzhi is still widely revered as a valuable health supplement and herbal medicine worldwide, as studies (mostly conducted in China, Korea, Japan and the United States) into the medicinal and nutritional values of Lingzhi revealed that it does indeed contain certain bioactive ingredients (such as triterpenes and polysaccharides) that might be beneficial for the prevention and treatment of a variety of ailments, including important diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, hepatitis, cancers, and AIDS. As research into the biological activities of Lingzhi, as well as the quality assurance and quality control of Lingzhi products, require the isolation/purification of active ingredients from Lingzhi, followed by subsequent analytical and/or preparative separations, the present review summarizes the various chromatographic and electrophoretic methods (as well as sample pretreatment methods) typically employed to achieve such extraction/separation procedures.

Monometallic Pd/C and Re/C and bimetallic Pd−Re/C catalysts with different Re/Pd molar ratios were prepared by incipient-wetness impregnation and characterized by temperature-programmed reduction, X-ray diffraction, CO chemisorption, and transmission electron microscopy. The results indicated that there is a strong interaction between Pd and Re species and that Pd can significantly promote the reduction of rhenium oxide. The hydrogenation of succinic acid to γbutyrolactone and tetrahydrofuran was investigated over the as-prepared Pd/C, Re/C, and Pd−Re/C catalysts. Pd/C showed a low conversion of succinic acid and a high selectivity to γ-butyrolactone. Adding a small amount of Re evidently enhanced the hydrogenation activity of succinic acid and improved the yield of γ-butyrolactone, whereas more Re increased the yield of tetrahydrofuran. The main reaction pathway for the conversion of succinic acid in aqueous solution on Pd−Re/C catalysts is proposed through hydrogenation of the intermediates, including γ-butyrolactone, 1,4-butanediol, and tetrahydrofuran as the substrates.

The Re/C catalysts prepared by the microwave-assisted thermolytic method exhibited good catalytic activity in the aqueous phase hydrogenation of succinic acid.

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