“…However, the previous studies were mainly focused on ethanol or methanol extracts, which is not in agreement with practical application of the herbal medicine by decocting with water. Therefore, an aqueous decoction of “ban lan gen” was investigated as part of our program to systematically study the chemical and biological diversity of several Chinese traditional medicines10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22. From the decoction, 43 new alkaloids and 54 known compounds, including a pair of indole alkaloid enantiomers containing dihydrothiopyran and 1,2,4-thiadiazole rings, a pair of bisindole alkaloid enantiomers, four stereoisomers of 3,5-bis(2-hydroxybut-3-en-1-yl)-1,2,4-thiadiazole, and twelve glycosidic indole alkaloids, as well as their antiviral and/or hepatocyte-protective activities, were characterized23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30.…”