A large number of bioactive diarylheptanoid natural products were isolated recently by Kadota and co-workers from the seeds of Alpinia blepharocalyx K. Schum, a member of Zingiberaceae family found in China. 1, 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d, 1e, 1f, 1g, 1h, 2, 2a, 2b, 2c and 2d Plants of this family are known to have antihepatotoxic, anti-inflammatory, and stomachic properties. More recently, synthetic investigations 3 by Rychnovsky and co-workers led to revised ...