| Summary: | Secondary metabolites were isolated using chromatographic techniques after being extracted sequentially from the roots of <i>Artemisia afra</i> using organic solvents such as ethanol, ethyl acetate, dichloromethane, and n-hexane. The isolated compounds were evaluated for anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, and cytotoxicity activities. Spectroscopic techniques, including Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), and liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC-MS), were used to elucidate the structures of the isolated compounds. The phytochemical investigation of <i>A. afra</i> led to the isolation of eight (<b>A</b>–<b>H</b>) compounds which were identified as 3<i>β</i>-taraxerol (<b>A</b>), 3<i>β</i>-taraxerol acetate (<b>B</b>), dodecyl-<i>p</i>-coumarate (<b>C</b>), ferulic acid (<b>D</b>), scopoletin (<b>E</b>), sitosterol-3-<i>O</i>-<i>β</i>-<i>D</i>-glucopyranoside (<b>F</b>), 3,5-di-<i>O</i>-feruloylquinic acid (<b>G</b>) and Isofraxidin-7-<i>O</i>-<i>β</i>-<i>D</i>-glucopyranoside (<b>H</b>) based on spectroscopic data. Compounds <b>A</b>, <b>B</b>, <b>C</b>, <b>F</b>, <b>G</b>, and <b>H</b> are known but were isolated for the first time from the roots of <i>A. afra</i>. The isolated compounds and extracts from <i>A. afra</i> exhibited good anti-fungal and anti-bacterial activity with dichloromethane and ethyl acetate crude extracts (0.078 mg/mL) and compound <b>E</b> (62.5 µg/mL) showed good activities against <i>Escherichia coli</i>. Compounds <b>C</b> and <b>F</b> also showed good activity against <i>Enterococcus faecalis</i> with minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values of 62.5 and 31.25 µg/mL, respectively. Extracts and compounds (<b>A</b>–<b>H</b>) exhibited anti-fungal and anti-bacterial properties and showed no toxicity when tested on Vero monkey kidney (Vero) cells.
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