The developments in the study of marine malabaricane triterpenes were reviewed in this paper. The relationships between chemical structures and biological activities of marine malabaricane triterpenes were also described.

Three known compounds have been isolated from the marine sponge Gel-liodes spinosella in the South China Sea. The crude ethanol extract was partitioned between ethyl acetate and water, and then between w-butanol and water. The butanol fraction was chromatographed on silica gel column to obtain thymidine(1l) ,phenylacetic acid(2)and L-(-)-3-phenylanine(3). Their structures were determined by UV,IR,1HNMR,and 13CNMR data.

Two compounds were isolated from the hard coral Pavona frondifera Lamarck collected from the South China Sea by chromatographied on gel colum and recrystallization. Their structures were determined by UV,IR,MS,1HNMR and 13CNMR data. It first reported about the chemical compounds of the hard coral Pavona frondifera Lamarck.

Five organic compounds were isolated from the marine sponge Axinyssa aplysi- noides collected from South China Sea. Their chemical structures were identified by UV, IR, NMR, and MS as 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde (I); (22E)-24,26,26-trimethylcholesta-6,22,25 (30)-trien-3?-ol(Ⅱ); 3- (17Z-tetracose-nyloxy)-1, 2-propanediol (Ⅲ); 24-isobutylcholesta-3, 25(31)-dien-3?－ol(Ⅳ); Uracil (V). It's the first report about the marine sponge Axinyssa aplysinoides from South China Sea.

Marine Glycosphingolipids(GSLs) compounds mainly come from marine ogranisms of marine sponge and starfish. The advances of study on GSLs compounds in recent two decades were reviewed. The relationship between chemical structure and biological functions of GSLs compounds was also described.

Four organic compounds were isolated from the ethyl acetate soluble fraction of the marine sponge Clathria fasciculate which collected from the South China Sea. Their structures were determined by GC-MS, FAB, IR, 1HNMR, 13CNMR and COSY spectra as: clolest-4-en-3-one(Ⅰ). stigmast-4-en-3-one(Ⅱ). (Z)-17-tetracosene-l-ol(Ⅲ) and3-(17Z-tetracosenyloxy)-1 , 2-propanediol(Ⅳ). It's the second report of the first serial studies of the chemical constituents of the marine sponge Clathria fasciculate.

Six organic compounds were isolated from the marine sponge Topsentia sp. collected from the South China Sea. Their chemical structures were identified by 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR,IR,MS and GC-MS as cholesterol(Ⅰ); 24-ethylidenecholest-5-en-3?-ol(Ⅱ); phenylacetic acid(Ⅲ); 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde(Ⅳ);indole-3-carboxaldehyde(Ⅴ); thymine(Ⅵ).

Five compounds were isolated from the ethyl acetate extract of the marine sponge Cin-achyrella australiansis collected from the South China Sea. Their structures were identified by IR,1 H-NMR,13C-NMR,MS as the follows : 24-ethyl-cholest-4-en-3-one(Ⅰ), cholesterol (Ⅱ), benzene- ac-etamide(Ⅲ), p-hydroxyphenylacetamide(Ⅳ), indole-3-acetamide(Ⅴ).