The aqueous extracts of aerial parts of Baccharis trimera (Less.) DC., B. crispa Spreng. and B. usterii Heering (Asteraceac) displayed significant radical scavenging activity in a diphenylpicrylhydrazole (DPPH)/TLC assay. In order to rapidly identify the active principles, the crude extracts were analysed by HPLC-UV, and an HPLC-micro-fractionation of the extract of R usterii was performed. Six quinic acids derivatives (1-6) were isolated from B. usterii by MPLC. The fractions were monitored by DPPH/TLC assay and a series of radical-scavenging quinic acid derivatives could be identified. The comparison of the HPLC profiles of the extracts of B. usterii, B. trimera and B. crispa was performed. In order to obtain complementary on-line structural information for all peaks of interest, HPLC-MS/MS together with HPLC-UV involving post-column addition of UV shift reagents was undertaken on the crude extract. The interpretation of these data permitted the on-line identification of known compounds, some of which are reported for the first time in this plant. Copyright (c) 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.