Abegaz Berhanu (PhD)Bezabih Alemu2018-06-132023-11-092018-06-132023-11-091982-06http://etd.aau.edu.et/handle/12345678/672Rumex abyssinicus, family polygonaceae is a plant used traditionally for colouring textiles and food. It has several medicinal application such as purgative, antidiabetic, and taencide. l'he powdered root of R0abyssinicus was packed on a column and extracted using acetone. The sticky brownish mass(A-l)which was produced on evaporation was further separated by column chromatography and showed to consist of anthraquinone derivatives A-4, A-6 and A-7 which were latter identified as emodin (1,3,8 trihydroxy-6-methylanthraquinone), chrysopyanvl (1,8 dihydroxyT3-methylanthraquinone, and physicone (1,8 dihydroxy-3-methoxy-6-raethylanth-raquinone)respectively. The structural ilucidation of emodin, chryso~phanol and physicone are based on their ultraviolet,visible, infrared, nuclear magnetic resonance and massspectras.enRumex abyssinicusThesis