Abstract: To investigate chemical constituents and anti-tuberculosis activity in vitro from the flowers of Inula hupehensis Ling,various chromatographic techniques,including silica gel column chromatography,ODS and preparative HPLC were used.Anti-tuberculosis activity in vitro was determined by double broth dilution method.Ten compounds were isolated.Their structures were identified on the basis of NMR,MS as 7,8-epoxy-9-(isobutyryloxy)thymolisobutyrate (1),10-(2-methylbutyloxy)-8,9-epoxythymolisobutyrate (2),stigmasterol (3),ayapin (4),ergolide (5),5,10-epi-2,3-dihydroaromatin (6),xanthalongin (7),bigelovin (8),carpesiolin (9),aromaticin (10).Compounds 1,2,5,6,8-10 were isolated from this plant for the first time.Compounds 5-10 are sesquiterpenoids.Compounds 5,6,8-10 have coninhibitory activity against mycobacterium tuberculosis cell lines.Minimal inhibition concentration MIC as follows:10.00,30.00,5.00,3.15,3.15 μM.

Key words: Inula hupehensis Ling, chemical constituents, structural identification, anti-tuberculosis activity.