Phytochemicals from the Bark of Rhamnus caroliniana

Rhamnus caroliniana (Rhamnaceae), or Carolina buckthorn, is a plant commonly found in the southeastern United States that was used in Cherokee traditional medicine. To date, there have been no reports on the phytochemical constituents of R. caroliniana. The bark of R. caroliniana was collected and extracted with chloroform. The crude chloroform extract was subjected to preparative column chromatography on silica gel leading to the isolation of two anthraquinones (chrysophanol and physcion), the bianthrone ararobinol, the dihydroxynaphthalene torachrysone, and the fatty alcohol 1-docosanol. The bark essential oil of R. caroliniana was obtained by hydrodistillation and analyzed by gas chromatography - mass spectrometry. The major bark volatiles were the anthrone chrysarobin-(24.2%), the piperidine alkaloid piperine (15.4%), and the dibenzoxepin pacharin (7.5%).