Bioactive compounds from the root of Myrsine africana.

Bioactivity-directed fractionation of the EtOH extract of the roots of Myrsine africana, using lethality to brine shrimp, led to the isolation and identification of emodin and 2-hydroxychrysophanol as cytotoxic components, the latter being a new natural product. Nepodin and 5-methoxy-7-hydroxyphthalide were also isolated but were not significantly cytotoxic.