A new diterpenoid quinone, agastaquinone [1], was isolated from the ro
ots of Agastache rugosa. An oxime derivative [2] of agastaquinone was
prepared with hydroxylamine hydrochloride. The structure of agastaquin
one [1] was established as 0-norabieta-1,5(10),6,8,12-pentaene-3,11,14
-trione by spectroscopic techniques. Compounds 1 and 2 showed nonspeci
fic cytotoxic activities against several human cancer cell lines in vi
tro (A549, SK-OV-3, SK-MEL-2, XF498, and HCT15).