Ongoing efforts to incorporate traditional or herbal medicine practice into the main stream healthcare delivery system of Ghana has led to increased research to isolate, identify, and characterize the active ingredients in these herbal products. It has also led to the development of semi-synthetic drugs and pharmacologically-active compounds. Essential oils from different parts of Xylopia aethiopica, a plant of Africa, showed various degrees of anti bacterial activity. The activity has been attributed to the presence of Xylopic acid the major diterpene component of the fruit oil extract. This work examines the effects of extraction solvent and time of extraction on the yield of xylopic acid. Xylopic acid was isolated from the dried fruits of Xylopia aethiopica using petroleum ether and characterized using various analytical tools. This was then used as reference standard to design an HPLC method to quantify the amount of the acid extracted using different solvent systems.