In this study,the compounds with α-glucosidase inhibitory activity in the extract from Terminalia chebula were screened by ultrafiltration-HPLC,in addition,macroporous resin (MR) combined with semi-preparative HPLC were used to isolate the target compounds.The inhibitory effect of the compounds on α-glucosidase was determined by using 4-nortiphenyl-α-D-glucopyranoside (pNPG) as a substrate.The results showed that three components from T. chebula had potential α-glucosidase inhibitory activities.It was found that AB-8 resin showed a ideal purifying profile,the peak area ratios of the target compounds raised at 29.6%,40.3%,21.9% respectively.After further purification by semi-preparative HPLC,compound 1(27 mg),2(35 mg) and 3(22 mg) with purity of 96.6%,98.1% and 96.4% were obtained.Finally,the three compounds were identified by ¹H NMR and ¹³C NMR spectra as chebulagic acid,chebulinic acid and ellagic acid.The activity screening tests showed that the three compounds had strong α-glucosidase inhibitory activities,chebulagic acid(IC₅₀=39.2±0.7 mg/L)and chebulinic acid(IC₅₀=35.8±0.4 mg/L) showed greater activity than that of acarbose(IC₅₀=41.2±0.6 mg/L).This study provided a scientific basis for the development of α-glucosidase inhibitors in T. chebula .