Traditional Chinese medicine has been practiced for thousands of years to treat or prevent diseases. However, its physical foundation, mode of action, and prescription compatibility of TCM pharmacodynamic action were not determined in complete detail, and the complexity of formulae greatly limited the research of effective constituents related with the clinical efficacy of TCM. The therapeutic efficacy of TCMs is mainly based on the combined action of a mixture of active phytochemical constituents. Nearly 200 modern medicines have been developed either directly or indirectly from the plants used as medicines in China. For example, Artemisinin, the active ingredient extracted from a Chinese herb Artemisia annua L, is the most effective antimalarial drug. Ginsenosides are a class of natural product steroid glycosides and triterpene saponins. Compounds in this family are found almost exclusively in the plant genus Panax (ginseng), which has a long history of use in traditional medicine. Therefore, it is a good and economical way with less risk to discover new chemical drugs based on active ingredients and leading compounds separating from Chinese herbal medicine. With the continuous development of the traditional Chinese medicine industry especially in separation methods and isolation techniques in recent years, it has been proved that traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) monomers, the active compounds of Chinese Herbal Medicines, have many medicinal properties and can effectively guide innovative drug discovery.

TCM can contribute to addressing a number of global health challenges of the 21st Century, in particular in the area of chronic, noncommunicable diseases and population aging.

TargetMol’s Traditional Chinese Medicine Monomer Library collects 2910 compounds that all come from about 800 Chinese Herbal Medicines, such as Panax natoginseng, Licorice, Angelica, Pericarpium Citri Reticulatae, Coptis chinensis, Panax ginseng, etc., containing chemical structures such as Flavonoids, Alkaloids, Terpenes, Glycosides, etc. TargetMol’s Traditional Chinese Medicine Monomer Library is a useful tool for new drug discovery and mechanism studies in anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, apoptosis, autophagy, etc.