AbstractThe bark of the tree Burkea africana is used medicinally in large areas of sub‐Saharan Africa. The constituents responsible for its putative activity are not well known. We have investigated the bark of B. africana for antioxidant and radical scavenging activity. A hydroethanol bark extract showed high activity, and most of this activity was located in semipolar fractions of the extract. From chromatographic purification and spectroscopical structure studies, we conclude that the active constituents are proanthocyanidins. Two major components appear to be fisetinidol‐(4α‐ → 8)‐catechin 3‐gallate and bis‐fisetinidol‐(4α‐ → 6, 4α‐ → 8)‐catechin 3‐gallate. The latter compound is a new natural product. Smaller amounts of monomeric flavan‐3‐ols (catechin, epicatechin and fisetinidol) were also found. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.