Abstract: Fourteen compounds were separated from ethyl acetate fraction of the root extract of Astragalus ernestii H.F.Comber,including lupineketene(1),β-D-glucopyranoside, 3,4-dihydro-3-(2-hydroxy-3,4-dimethoxyphenyl) -2H-1-benzopyran-7-yl(2),liquiritigenin(3),(3R)-8,2′-dihydroxy-7,4′-dimethoxy isoflavane(4), isoliquiritigenin(5), sucrose(6),7α-hydroxysitosterol(7),5α,8α-epidioxy-(22E,24R)-ergosta-6,22-dien-3β-ol(8),trilinolein(9), n-tritriacontane(10), n-octadecane(11), octacosanol(12), n-heptacosane(13),and  β-sitosterol(14).According to bioassays,compound 2 showed moderate cytotoxicities against the human gastric cancer cell line(MGC-803),the human hepatoma cell line(HepG2),and the human ovarian cancer cell line(SKOV3).

Key words: Astragalus ernestii, chemical constituents, cytotoxicity