Objective: To study the chemical constituents of ethyl acetate extract from one of the "Shi ba zuan" of Yao medicines

Jasminum pentaneurum. Method: The crude extract of dry powder from stems of J. pentaneurum was obtained by using 70% ethanol water refluxing;the extract was evaporated under vacuum to obtain the dry residue. Then

the residue was dissolved in water and extracted with petroleum ether

ethyl acetate

and n-butanol

respectively. The compounds from the ethyl acetate fraction were isolated and purified by repeated silica gel column and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)

and their structures were determined by spectroscopic data analyses

including 1H-NMR

13 C-NMR

and MS

as well as by comparison with the data from literature. Result: Eleven compounds were obtained and identified as 4-hydroxybenzyl aldehyde(1)

vanillin(2)

coniferaldehyde(3)

4-hydroxy phenethyl acetate(4)

trans-cinnamic acid(5)

trans-ferulic acid(6)

syringic acid ethyl ester(7)

4-hydroxy-3

5-dimethoxybenzaldehyde(8)

trans-ethyl ferulate(9)

ethyl 4-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzoate(10)

and bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate(11)

respectively. Conclusion: All the compounds were isolated from J. pentaneurum for the first time

and most of the isolated compounds were phenolic acids with small molecules. The results provide a basis for the efficacy basis study of J. pentaneurum.