This dissertation consists of five chapters: Chapter one is the studies of alkaloids of Artemisia rupestris L., chapter two focuse on HPLC of total alkaloids from Artemisia rupestris L., chapter three describes preparative isolation of rupestine from the flowers of Artemisia rupestris L. by high-speed counter-current chromatography. Biogenesis of pyridine alkaloids is reviewed and discussed in chapter four. In addition, studies on non-alkaloid constituents from Artemisia rupestris L are in the last part of this article. Artemisia rupestris L. (Compositae) is widely distributed in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region of China, central Asia, Europe, etc. It is used in Xinjiang folk medicine; we are making efforts to investigate the chemical constituents of extracts from Artemisia rupestris L. for further understanding material basis on its medicinal effect. Four new compounds 1-4 and one known compound 5 which was obtained as natural product for the first time, were isolated from the flowers of Artemisia rupestris L.. While it was difficult to establish compounds 6, 7 (less than 2 mg) isolated from the flowers on the basis of 1H-NMR and ESI-MS. Then parts of alkaloids were identified on the HPLC of total alkaloids by comparing the retention time with references isolated previously. All their structures have the same nuclear parent structure. An unknown compound 8 together with two known compounds 9-10 were isolated from the stems of the plant. Compounds 11-17 were separated form the whole plant, and compounds 12, 16, 17 were isolated from the plant for the first time. Because the total alkaloids content in the plant is very low, it is important to choose proper parts, solvents and methods for alkaloids separation. The new compound named rupestine was purified successfully from the total alkaloids of the flowers by high-speed counter-current chromatography (HSCCC). Finally, we summarized the biogenetic relationship of the pyridine alkaloids, and we can guess the biosynthetic pathway of guaipyridine sesquiterpene alkaloids based on the review.