The crystalline compound itself has a yellow-green colour, as per its name, and is stable at room temperature for several hours.

[1] Chartreusin is chemically related to elsamitrucin, as the two share an aglycone chartarin structure, though they differ in their sugar moieties.

Chartreusin administered by intravenous therapy was ineffective, as the compound would be excreted through the bile.

Upon binding, Chartreusin may inhibit the relaxation of negatively supercoiled DNA, or induce strand scission.

Among surviving cells, prolonged exposure to Chartreusin leads to irreversible inhibition of growth and damage to DNA.