title: Simultaneous isolation of artemisinin and its precursors from Artemisia annua L. by preparative RP-HPLC.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory for Germplasm Innovation and Utilization of Crop, Natural Products Research Center, College of Horticulture and Hardening, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha, 410128, China.
authors.forename: Na
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Shuoqian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Jianan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Xun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Zhonghua
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000097:Acetonitriles / Q000737:chemistry; D031172:Artemisia annua / Q000737:chemistry*; D037621:Artemisinins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D002849:Chromatography, Gas / Q000379:methods; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / Q000379:methods*; D056148:Chromatography, Reverse-Phase / Q000379:methods*; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D000097:Acetonitriles; D037621:Artemisinins; D010936:Plant Extracts; C032159:acetonitrile