Abstract: Through column chromatography and semi-preparative high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC),11 compounds were isolated from the whole plants of Leea asiatica with the common name of Jiu-Jie-Li,a traditional antitumor ethnomedicine used by local people in Dehong of Yunnan Province.These compounds were identified as kaempferol (1),kaempferol-3-O-α-L-rhamnopyranoside (2),quercetin (3),isoquercitrin (4),quercitrin (5),myricetin (6),myricetin-3-O-α-L-rhamnopyranoside (7),europetin (8),europetin 3-O-α-L-rhamnopyranoside (9),ent-catechin (10),and maslinic acid (11) by MS and NMR spectra.The cytotoxic activity against 5 tumor cell lines of the EtOAc-soluble part and 11 compounds were evaluated by an MTS assay.The result showed that the EtOAc-soluble part exhibited growth inhibitory activity against human leukemia HL-60 (IC₅₀=21.76 μg/mL) cell line,human lung cancer A-549 (IC₅₀=18.00 μg/mL) cell line,and human liver cancer SMMC-7721 (IC₅₀=17.04 μg/mL) cell line,and kaempferol (1) from the the EtOAc-soluble part was active against SMMC-7721 cells with an IC₅₀ value of 27.61 μg/mL.

Key words: Leeaceae, Leea asiatica, flavonoids, cytotoxicity;tumor