Three new phenolic glucosides from the roots of Rheum palmatum

A novel naphthalene glucoside, rheumone A (1), with an unprecedented skeleton containing a seven-membered lactone, and two new compounds, 1-O-phloroglucinyl-2-O-galloyl-6-O-cinnamoyl-β-D-glucoside (2) and chrysophanol 1-O-β-D-(6'-O-malonyl)glucoside (3), together with three known compounds (4-6) were isolated from the roots of Rheum palmatum. Their structures were elucidated mainly by spectroscopic analysis. These compounds were evaluated in vitro for their cytotoxicities towards human hepatocellular cancer cell lines Bel-7402 and Bel-7402/5Fu, and human gastric carcinoma cell line BGC-823. None of them showed cytotoxicity with IC(50) far beyond 50 μM.