Provided is a skin whitening composition with excellent whitening effects, specifically, a derivative or a polyhydroxy cyclic compound represented by Formula I or a pharmacologically acceptable salt thereof, comprisingwhereinis derived from an aromatic cyclic compound, Cn, Cn+1 and Cn+2 are three neighboring carbon atoms present in the aromatic cyclic compound, wherein n is a positive integer, R1 and R2 are each a saturated or unsaturated straight or branched alkyl or acyl group having 3 to 12 carbon atoms, and R3, R4, R5 and R6 are each independently at least one substituent selected from hydrogen, alkyl, alkoxy, acyloxy, acyloxymethyl, oxo, hydroxy, vinyl, nitrile, carboxaldehyde, carbonitrile and aldehyde.
