A Continuous-Flow Process for the Synthesis of Artemisinin
摘要:
AbstractIsolation 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.
Biomimetic synthesis of arteannuin h and the 3,2-rearrangement of allylic hydroperoxides
作者:Lai-King Sy、Koon-Sin Ngo、Geoffrey D. Brown
DOI:10.1016/s0040-4020(99)00987-4
日期:1999.12
The acyl endoperoxide arteannuin H, recently reported as a novel natural product from Artemtsia annua, has been obtained in two steps from the photooxidation of dihydroartemisinic acid, thereby confirming biogenetic speculation regarding its derivation from a secondary allylic hydroperoxide. The little studied 3,2-rearrangement reaction of such allylic hydroperoxides is also discussed.
A Continuous-Flow Process for the Synthesis of Artemisinin
作者:Daniel Kopetzki、François Lévesque、Peter H. Seeberger
DOI:10.1002/chem.201204558
日期:2013.4.22
AbstractIsolation 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.