Several novel naturally occurring flavonoids and other polyphenols exerted varying degrees of concentration-dependent inhibition on uncharacterized rat liver glutathione S-transferase (EC 2.5.1.18, GST) isoforms. The order of inhibitory potencies of the five most potent polyphenols was tannic acid > 2-hydroxyl chalcone > butein > morin > quercetin, and their IC50 values were 1.044, 6.758, 9.033, 13.710 and 18.732 microM, respectively. Their inhibitions were reversible, as indicated by dialysis experiments. The optimum pH for the inhibitions by four of the compounds (tannic acid, butein, 2-hydroxyl chalcone and morin) was in the range of pH 6.0 to 6.5, but for quercetin the optimum pH was 8.0. These potent inhibitors possess one or more of the following chemical structural features: (a) polyhydroxylation substitutions, (b) absence of a sugar moiety, (c) for the chalcones, the presence of an open C-ring and hydroxylation at either the C-2 or C-3 position, (d) for the flavonoids, the attachment of the B-ring to C-2, and (e) a double bond between C-2 and C-3. Butein exhibited a non-competitive inhibition toward both glutathione (GSH) and 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene (CDNB). Interestingly, tannic acid showed a non-competitive inhibition toward CDNB but a competitive inhibition toward GSH. The inhibitory potency of tannic acid on rat liver GSTs was concentration and substrate dependent. Using CDNB, p-nitrobenzyl chloride, 4-nitropyridine-N-oxide, and ethacrynic acid as substrates, the IC50 values for tannic acid were 1.044, 11.151, 20.206, and 57.664 microM, respectively.