Phytochemical investigations of the MeOH extract of Betula papyrifera inner bark led to the isolation of ten phenolic compounds of the following types: diarylheptanoid glycosides (1-4), a diarylheptanoid (5), a lignan (6), flavonoids (7-8) and chavicol glycosides (9-10). Among them, the diarylheptanoid glycoside, (S)-1,7-bis-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-heptan-3-one-5-O-alpha-L-arabinofuranosyl-(1-->6)-beta-D-glucopyranoside, papyriferoside A (1), was isolated and its structure was determined on the basis of 1D and 2D NMR, HPLC-MS, as well as high resolution mass spectroscopic data. Platyphylloside (4) exerted the strongest cytotoxic activity of all isolated compounds with IC(50) values ranging from 10.3 to 13.8 microM.