A Continuous‐Flow Process for the Synthesis of Artemisinin

Isolation of the most effective antimalarial drug, artemisinin, from the plant sweet wormwood, does not yield sufficient quantities to provide the more than 300 million treatments needed each year. The high prices for the drug are a consequence of the unreliable and often insufficient supply of artemisinin. Large quantities of ineffective fake drugs find a market in Africa. Semisynthesis of artemisinin from inactive biological precursors, either dihydroartemisinic acid (DHAA) or artemisinic acid, offers a potentially attractive route to increase artemisinin production. Conversion of the plant waste product, DHAA, into artemisinin requires use of photochemically generated singlet oxygen at large scale. We met this challenge by developing a one‐pot photochemical continuous‐flow process for the semisynthesis of artemisinin from DHAA that yields 65 % product. Careful optimization resulted in a process characterized by short residence times. A method to extract DHAA from the mother liquor accumulated during commercial artemisinin extractions, a material that is currently discarded as waste, is also reported. The synthetic continuous‐flow process described here is an effective means to supplement the limited availability of artemisinin and ensure increased supplies of the drug for those in need.     

Ein Wirkstoff gegen Malaria aus der Natur: Artemisinin

Artemisinin, an unusual tetracyclic, endoperoxidic sesquiterpene is a highly bioactive natural product. Due to its superior activity against the malaria parasite it is under investigation to an extraordinary extent. The Chinese scientist Tu Youyou who discovered the compound received the Nobel Prize for medicine 2015. However, treating malaria is not all of its potential. This paper is following up two recent articles on artemisinin in this Journal from 2014. We describe here the isolation of pure crystalline artemisinin from dried sweet wormwood leaves and present its complete set of spectra together with interpretations. Background information complements the matter.     

Direct analysis of artemisinin from Artemisia annua L. using high-performance liquid chromatography with evaporative light scattering detector, and gas chromatography with flame ionization detector

Since the isolation of artemisinin 32 years ago, it has been analyzed by different chromatographic techniques. This work compared the analysis of artemisinin from crude plant samples by GC with flame ionization detection (GC-FID) and HPLC with evaporative light scattering detector (HPLC-ELSD). Data is also presented indicating that GC is suitable for the quantification of two of artemisinin precursors (arteannuin B and artemisinic acid) if a mass spectrometer is available. GC-FID and HPLC-ELSD were chosen because of their low cost compared to other detection methods, their ease of operation compared to HPLC with electrochemical detection, and because neither require artemisinin derivatization. Both GC-FID and HPLC-ELSD provided sensitive (ng level) and reproducible results for the analysis of artemisinin from field plants, with a correlation coefficient of r(2)=0.86 between the two methods. Both methods could be easily adapted to the analysis of pharmaceutical-grade artemisinin.     

Development of the protocol for purification of artemisinin based on combination of commercial and computationally designed adsorbents

A polymeric adsorbent for extraction of the antimalarial drug artemisinin from Artemisia annua L. was computationally designed. This polymer demonstrated a high capacity for artemisinin (120 mg g^?1), quantitative recovery (87%) and was found to be an effective material for purification of artemisinin from complex plant matrix. The artemisinin quantification was conducted using an optimised HPLC‐MS protocol, which was characterised by high precision and linearity in the concentration range between 0.05 and 2 μg mL^?1. Optimisation of the purification protocol also involved screening of commercial adsorbents for the removal of waxes and other interfering natural compounds, which inhibit the crystallisation of artemisinin. As a result of a two step‐purification protocol crystals of artemisinin were obtained, and artemisinin purity was evaluated as 75%. By performing the second stage of purification twice, the purity of artemisinin can be further improved to 99%. The developed protocol produced high‐purity artemisinin using only a few purification steps that makes it suitable for large scale industrial manufacturing process.     

GC–MS法分析茵陈挥发油成分

采用水蒸气蒸馏法提取茵陈中挥发性成分挥发油,用气相色谱–质谱联用技术(GC–MS)对茵陈挥发油成分进行分析鉴定,并采用峰面积归一化法测定其相对含量。共检出52种挥发性成分,鉴定了其中31种主要挥发性成分,含量较高的组分为石竹素(15.27%)、(–)-斯巴醇(6.64%)、石竹烯(4.89%)等。GC–MS法适用于茵陈挥发性成分的定性分析,具有灵敏度高、分析速度快的特点。     

大孔吸附树脂提取青蒿素的研究

探讨了大孔吸附树脂提取青蒿素的方法。以青蒿素的吸附量,青蒿素含量,青蒿素收率和提取率为考察指标,确定大孔吸附树脂提取青蒿素的工艺条件。研究结果表明,ADS-17树脂对青蒿素的吸附量大,解吸容易,可用于提取黄花蒿中青蒿素的工业化生产,其工艺条件为:青蒿素最大吸附量为112.30mg/g,吸附流速为2BV/h,洗脱剂为90%乙醇,解吸流速为2BV/h,青蒿素含量大于99%,收率高达0.3%,提取率高达75%以上。     

Quantitative determination of artemisinin in rat hemolyzed plasma by an HPLC–HRMS method

Iron present in hemolyzed plasma could cause the degradation of artemisinin by reductively cleaving the peroxide bridge of artemisinin during sample preparation, which is a significant technical challenge for artemisinin determination. In this paper, this issue was resolved by using sodium nitrite as methemoglobin-forming agent to oxidize hemoglobin to methemoglobin in the presence of acetic acid and prevent the degradation of artemisinin in hemolyzed plasma during the sample preparation procedure. Then, a high-performance liquid chromatography tandem high-resolution mass spectrometry method was developed and validated for the determination of artemisinin in normal and hemolyzed plasma. The linear range was validated over the concentration range of 5–500 ng ml⁻¹. The matrix effect and stability were also evaluated. This robust and sensitive assay was successfully applied to a pharmacokinetic study in rats after an oral administration of Artemisia annua L. extract.     

Simultaneous isolation of artemisinin and its precursors from Artemisia annua L. by preparative RP-HPLC

It is still a major challenge to simultaneously isolate artemisinin and its precursors, especially dihydroartemisinic acid and artemisinic acid, from herbal Artemisia annua. A rapid, economical and automatical chromatographic separation process to isolate and purify artemisinin, dihydroartemisinic acid and artemisinic acid at the same time on a preparative scale was developed. The procedure included solvent extraction of ground Artemisia annua leaves by refluxing and purification of crude extract by preparative reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC). Fractions containing artemisinin and its precursors were collected and identified by gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. High purity of artemisinin, dihydroartemisinic acid and artemisinic acid was obtained by preparative HPLC with a C(18) column and 60% acetonitrile in water as the mobile phase. The techniques described here are useful tools for the preparative-scale isolation of artemisinin and its precursors in a fast, cost-effective and environmental friendly manner.     

Biotechnological Approaches for Production of Artemisinin,an Anti-Malarial Drug from Artemisia annua L.

Artemisinin is an anti-malarial sesquiterpene lactone derived from Artemisia annua L. (Asteraceae family). One of the most widely used modes of treatment for malaria is an artemisinin-based combination therapy. Artemisinin and its associated compounds have a variety of pharmacological qualities that have helped achieve economic prominence in recent years. So far, research on the biosynthesis of this bioactive metabolite has revealed that it is produced in glandular trichomes and that the genes responsible for its production must be overexpressed in order to meet demand. Using biotechnological applications such as tissue culture, genetic engineering, and bioreactor-based approaches would aid in the upregulation of artemisinin yield, which is needed for the future. The current review focuses on the tissue culture aspects of propagation of A. annua and production of artemisinin from A. annua L. cell and organ cultures. The review also focuses on elicitation strategies in cell and organ cultures, as well as artemisinin biosynthesis and metabolic engineering of biosynthetic genes in Artemisia and plant model systems.     

Identification of impurities in artemisinin, their behavior in high performance liquid chromatography and implications for the quality of derived anti-malarial drugs

Previous work [1] on the HPLC analysis of artemisinin tentatively identified the two impurities present above trace levels. This identification was based on LC-MS results and NMR of impurities isolated from artemisinin. In this work the impurities have been synthesized allowing verification of their identity by LC-MS. It is found that the previously suggested elution order is incorrect. A determination of relative response factors strongly impacts suggested limits on impurity levels and explains the erroneous peak assignment. The fates of the identified impurities are explored in the transformation of artemisinin to its derivative active pharmaceutical ingredients. A survey of a wide variety of artemisinin samples isolated from different geographical regions, different growing seasons, different plant backgrounds and using different extraction and purification approaches showed that artemisinin has sufficient purity for its intended use as a raw material for anti-malarial drug products.     

青蒿截疟组合物与牛血清白蛋白的相互作用

利用荧光光谱法研究青蒿截疟组合物(青蒿素、青蒿乙素、青蒿酸与东莨菪内酯质量比为1∶1∶1∶1的混合体系,AAAS)与牛血清白蛋白(BSA)的相互作用.结果表明,与青蒿素单独作用相比,AAAS对BSA的荧光猝灭作用增强,并以静态猝灭为主;计算了298,303和310 K下的结合常数、结合位点数和热力学参数,表明AAAS与BSA之间具有较强的静电引力,相互作用过程是一个熵增加的自发分子间作用过程.AAAS对BSA的猝灭常数和结合常数均增大.结果表明,AAAS显著增加了青蒿素与血清白蛋白的结合作用,此过程可能是AAAS增加青蒿素抗疟疗效的重要体内环节.     

The biosynthesis of artemisinin (Qinghaosu) and the phytochemistry of Artemisia annua L. (Qinghao)

The Chinese medicinal plant Artemisia annua L. (Qinghao) is the only known source of the sesquiterpene artemisinin (Qinghaosu), which is used in the treatment of malaria. Artemisinin is a highly oxygenated sesquiterpene, containing a unique 1,2,4-trioxane ring structure, which is responsible for the antimalarial activity of this natural product. The phytochemistry of A. annua is dominated by both sesquiterpenoids and flavonoids, as is the case for many other plants in the Asteraceae family. However, A. annua is distinguished from the other members of the family both by the very large number of natural products which have been characterised to date (almost six hundred in total, including around fifty amorphane and cadinane sesquiterpenes), and by the highly oxygenated nature of many of the terpenoidal secondary metabolites. In addition, this species also contains an unusually large number of terpene allylic hydroperoxides and endoperoxides. This observation forms the basis of a proposal that the biogenesis of many of the highly oxygenated terpene metabolites from A. annua - including artemisinin itself - may proceed by spontaneous oxidation reactions of terpene precursors, which involve these highly reactive allyllic hydroperoxides as intermediates. Although several studies of the biosynthesis of artemisinin have been reported in the literature from the 1980s and early 1990s, the collective results from these studies were rather confusing because they implied that an unfeasibly large number of different sesquiterpenes could all function as direct precursors to artemisinin (and some of the experiments also appeared to contradict one another). As a result, the complete biosynthetic pathway to artemisinin could not be stated conclusively at the time. Fortunately, studies which have been published in the last decade are now providing a clearer picture of the biosynthetic pathways in A. annua. By synthesising some of the sesquiterpene natural products which have been proposed as biogenetic precursors to artemisinin in such a way that they incorporate a stable isotopic label, and then feeding these precursors to intact A. annua plants, it has now been possible to demonstrate that dihydroartemisinic acid is a late-stage precursor to artemisinin and that the closely related secondary metabolite, artemisinic acid, is not (this approach differs from all the previous studies, which used radio-isotopically labelled precursors that were fed to a plant homogenate or a cell-free preparation). Quite remarkably, feeding experiments with labeled dihydroartemisinic acid and artemisinic acid have resulted in incorporation of label into roughly half of all the amorphane and cadinane sesquiterpenes which were already known from phytochemical studies of A. annua. These findings strongly support the hypothesis that many of the highly oxygenated sesquiterpenoids from this species arise by oxidation reactions involving allylic hydroperoxides, which seem to be such a defining feature of the chemistry of A. annua. In the particular case of artemisinin, these in vivo results are also supported by in vitro studies, demonstrating explicitly that the biosynthesis of artemisinin proceeds via the tertiary allylic hydroperoxide, which is derived from oxidation of dihydroartemisinic acid. There is some evidence that the autoxidation of dihydroartemisinic acid to this tertiary allylic hydroperoxide is a non-enzymatic process within the plant, requiring only the presence of light; and, furthermore, that the series of spontaneous rearrangement reactions which then convert this allylic hydroperoxide to the 1,2,4-trioxane ring of artemisinin are also non-enzymatic in nature.     

青蒿素及其衍生物电化学性质的研究Ⅱ: 青蒿素在 氯化血红素存在下的还原

用电化学方法研究了青蒿素与氯化血红素之间的相互作用。青蒿素在玻璃碳电极上于-1.08V处发生一个2电子转移的不可逆还原。但是,即使在低至4.0×10^-^8mol/L氯化血红素存在下,青蒿素仍可被催化还原,阴极过电位降低了600mV。配合物EDTA-Fe(Ⅲ)具有类似氯化血红素的催化性质,它降低了QHS阴极过电位590mV。在这个体系中,青蒿素在碳电极上的还原是一个借助于氯化血红素催化的还原过程,氯化血红素的存在降低了青蒿素还原活化能,促进了青蒿素的分解。文中讨论了该反应的还原机理。     

A high-performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry method for the determination of artemisinin in rat plasma

Artemisinin is a widely used antimalarial drug. To evaluate the pharmacokinetics of artemisinin in rats, a sensitive and specific liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometric (LC/MS/MS) method was developed and validated for the determination of artemisinin in rat plasma. For detection, a Sciex API 4000 LC/MS/MS instrument with an electrospray ionization (ESI) TurboIonSpray inlet in the positive ion multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode was used to monitor precursor ([M+NH4]+) --> product ions of m/z 300.4 --> 209.4 for artemisinin and m/z 316.4 --> 163.4 for artemether, the internal standard (IS). The plasma samples were pretreated by a simple liquid-liquid extraction with ether. The standard curve was linear (r > 0.99) over the artemisinin concentration range of 1.0-200.0 ng/mL in plasma. The method had a lower limit of quantification of 1.0 ng/mL for artemisinin in 100 microL of plasma, which offered a satisfactory sensitivity for the determination of artemisinin. The intra- and inter-day precisions were measured to be within +/-5.3% and accuracy between -2.6% and 1.2% for all quality control samples, lower limit of quantification and upper limit of quantification samples. The extraction recoveries of artemisinin and the IS were 95.4 +/- 4.5% and 92.8 +/- 3.9%, respectively. This present method was successfully applied to the characterization of the pharmacokinetic profile of artemisinin in rats after oral administration.     

不同电极上血红素对青蒿素的电催化还原

 在含20%乙醇的Britton-Robinson缓冲液介质(pH=7.2)中,采用循环伏安法在玻碳电极和银电极上比较了血红素对青蒿素还原的催化作用. 由于血红素和青蒿素加合物的形成及血红素中Fe2+的催化作用,青蒿素在玻碳电极和银电极上的还原过电位分别降低了0.32和0.09 V,还原活化能分别降低了62.1和17.6 kJ/mol. 还比较了血红素和配合物EDTA-Fe3+对青蒿素的催化还原效果,结果表明,EDTA-Fe2+的催化作用远低于血红素. 进一步证实了血红素在青蒿素的药理研究中起着关键作用.     

青蒿素研究进展

青蒿素是目前治疗疟疾的特效药。本文对自青蒿素发现以来的最新研究进展进行了比较详尽的综述。内容包括: 青蒿素的发现及历史, 青蒿素的来源, 青蒿素的全合成,青蒿素的生物合成, 青蒿素衍生物以及植物组织培养生产青蒿素。     

青蒿素的Raman光谱研究

本文对固态青蒿素的FT-Raman光谱和普通Raman光谱以及低浓度(1×10^-^5mol/L)青蒿素水溶液的表面增强Raman散射(SERS)光谱进行了检测, 着重观察了1756cm^-^1六元内酯环振动谱带, 发现其在FT-Raman和普通Raman光谱中表现为强振动, 而在SERS光谱中此振动谱带消失, 说明分子内酯环发生了破裂。根据1756cm^-^1谱带的变化以及724cm^-^1过氧基团振动频率的位移, 对青蒿素在银表面上的吸附取向进行了研究。还研究了青蒿素与氯高铁血红素的作用情况, 发现两者作用后, 明显改变了青蒿素在银表面上的吸附。     

Effect of Terbinafin and DMSO on The Gene Expression Level of Squalene Synthase (Sqs) and Amorpha-4,11-Diene Synthase (Ads) in Artemisia Annua L

Artemisinin, a secondary metabolite from Artemisia annua L. is a sesquiterpene lactone that has antimalaria activity but produced at low quantities by the plant. Low levels of artemisinin in the plant is related to the biosynthetic pathways influenced by specific enzymes that play role in the formation of artemisinin. Farnesyl diphosphate (FDP), which is the main precursor of artemisinin, also known as the precursor for the formation of sterols. Compared with the other compounds, sterol biosynthetic pathway is the biggest competitor of the artemisinin production since sterols are needed by plants to regulate membrane fluidity and permeability. This research aimed to study the effect of terbinafin and DMSO as sterol synthesis inhibitors on the regulation of the artemisinin biosynthetic pathway by analyzing the expression level of two genes linked, squalene synthase (SQS) and amorpha-4,11-diene synthase (ADS) using quantitative PCR (qPCR) and the amount of artemisinin is determined using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The results showed that at mRNA levels, terbinafin 30 μM had no significant effect on SQS and ADS expression levels, but it increased the amount of artemisinin at 50 hours incubation up to 1.36 times higher than control. DMSO increased the expression level of ADS up to 3-4 times and increased the content of artemisinin up to 2.42 times higher than control at 50 hours incubation time     

Intramolecular chain reaction of artemisinin oxidation

The intramolecular chain oxidation of artemisinin was analyzed using the parabolic model. The competition of the mono- and bimolecular peroxy radicals formed from artemisinin was considered. Artemisinin is predominantly oxidized via the intramolecular chain mechanism to form polyatomic hydroperoxides. This results in the situation when, under aerobic conditions, artemisinin is transformed from the monofunctional into polyfunctional initiator with several hydroperoxide groups. The enthalpy was calculated, and the activation energies and rate constants of the intramolecular reactions of the artemisinin peroxy radicals, as well as those of their bimolecular reactions with C-H, S-H, and O-H bonds of biological substrates and their analogs, were calculated in the framework of the parabolic model. A new kinetic scheme for artemisinin oxidation was proposed. Published in Russian in Izvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 2, pp. 267–275, February, 2008.     

Redox reaction of artemisinin with ferrous and ferric ions in aqueous buffer.

Artemisinin, a sesquiterpene with endoperoxide bond, possesses potent antimalarial activity against the ring and late stage of chloroqine-resistant Plasmodium falciparum malaria both in vitro and in vivo. The mode of antimalarial activity of artemisinin is iron-dependent. The aim of this study was to investigate the reactions of artemisinin with ferrous and ferric ions in aqueous buffer. Artemisinin generated a cycle of iron oxidation and reduction. It oxidized ferrous and reduced ferric ions with similar rate of reaction (k=10+/-0.5 M(-1) x s(-1) for ferrous and k=8.5+/-2.0 M(-1) x s(-1) for ferric ion). The major active product was dihydroartemisinin which exhibited antimalarial activity at least 3 times more potent than artemisinin. Dihydroartemisinin preferably binds to ferric ion, forming ferric-dihydroartemisinin complex. The re-oxidation of the complex gives artemisinin and ferric ion. This suggests that in aqueous buffer, the reaction of artemisinin with iron may give rise to the active reaction products, one of them being dihydroartemisinin, which is responsible for antimalarial activity.