The invention belongs to the technical field of medicine and particularly relates to application of salicylic compounds in the preparation of neurodegenerative disease drugs. The structural general formula of the compounds is shown as formula I. The salicylic compounds have significant butyrylcholinesterase inhibitory activity, anti-oxidation activity and metal ion complexing activity, can provide significant neural protection for hydrogen peroxide induced PC12 cellular damage, further shows good treatment effect on Alzheimer's disease via in-vivo experiments, and have low toxicity and promising clinical application prospect.