anthraquinones are natural phenolic compounds , which are reported to act as anti - aging , anti - inflammatory , antioxidant , anti - cancer , laxative and antitumor agents . 
 they are abudant in plants like candle bush , aloes , cascara bark and rhubarb . 
 the present work was to observe the effect of different forced degradation conditions by high - performance thin layer chromatography on potential markers i.e. aloe emodin and emodin . 
 both aloe emodin and emodin were subjected to various forced degradation studies such as oxidation , acid and alkaline hydrolysis , photolysis , hydrolytic and thermal degradation . 
 aloe emodin , was more susceptible to acid hydrolysis and degradation was found to a lesser extent under thermal degradation whereas significant degradation was observed under acid hydrolysis , lesser extent was observed under alkali hydrolysis for emodin . 
 forced degradation studies on aloe emodin and emodin gives information about its storage and intrinsic stability conditions considering the advanced pharmaceutical aspects of formulation .