Isolation and Structure Elucidation of Bis(2-ethylhexyl) terephthalate from barks of Acacia xanthophloea

Abstract A common and native tree of Eastern and Southern Africa, Acacia xanthophloea is a species of tropical plants and a member of the Fabaceae family.Although A. xanthophloea is known as a source of tannins, very little is known about its phytochemistry. In this context, the main objective of this work was to isolate and characterize the structures of secondary metabolites found in the bark of this plant. Substantial amounts of bis(2-ethylhexyl) terephthalate [DEHT/ dioctyl terephthalate (DOTP)] were isolated in a fraction of the bark extract while undertaking the isolation of phytochemicals from A. xanthophloea barks. The structure of this compound was confirmed by NMR, and mass spectroscopic data. DEHT is a terephthalic acid ester, the main plasticizer that is used to confer elasticity and flexibility to various fiber and plastic products. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time DEHT has been isolated from the barks of A. xanthophloea. This study contributes to the growing evidence of plasticizers in our food and drug sources.