Ailanthone, a natural product isolated and purified from the barks of Ailanthus altissima with high toxicity, has significant pre-emergence herbicide activity directly correlated to its concentration.

Guggulsterone is a plant sterol derived from the gum resin of the tree Commiphora wightii. Guggulsterone inhibits the growth of a wide variety of tumor cells and induces apoptosis through down regulation of antiapoptotic gene products (IAP1, xIAP, Bfl-1/A1, Bcl-2, cFLIP and survivin), modulation of cell cycle proteins (cyclin D1 and c-Myc), activation of caspases and JNK, inhibition of Akt. Guggulsterone, a farnesoid X receptor (FXR) antagonist, decreases CDCA-induced FXR activation with IC50s of 17 and 15 μM for Z- and E-Guggulsterone, respectively.

Canthin-6-one, a natural product isolated and purified from the barks of Ailanthus altissima, has antimicrobial, antifungal, cytotoxic, antiinflammatory, antiproliferative and proapoptotic effects.

2,6-Dimethoxy-1-acetonylquinol, a natural product isolated and purified from the barks of Ailanthus altissima, shows varying degrees of in vitro antimalarial activity against Plasmodium falciparum and is devoid of significant cytotoxicity to the human oral epidermoid KB cancer cell line.