title: Concise synthesis of artemisinin from a farnesyl diphosphate analogue.
abstract: Artemisinin is one of the most potent anti-malaria drugs and many often-lengthy routes have been developed for its synthesis. Amorphadiene synthase, a key enzyme in the biosynthetic pathway of artemisinin, is able to convert an oxygenated farnesyl diphosphate analogue directly to dihydroartemisinic aldehyde, which can be converted to artemisinin in only four chemical steps, resulting in an efficient synthetic route to the anti-malaria drug.
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry, Cardiff University, Park Place, Main Building, Cardiff CF10 3AT, UK.
authors.forename: Xiaoping
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry, Cardiff University, Park Place, Main Building, Cardiff CF10 3AT, UK.
authors.forename: Melodi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Demiray
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry, Cardiff University, Park Place, Main Building, Cardiff CF10 3AT, UK. Electronic address: wirth@cf.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wirth
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry, Cardiff University, Park Place, Main Building, Cardiff CF10 3AT, UK. Electronic address: allemannrk@cf.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Rudolf K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Allemann
mesh_terms: D000962:Antimalarials / Q000138:chemical synthesis* / Q000737:chemistry; D037621:Artemisinins / Q000138:chemical synthesis* / Q000737:chemistry; D015394:Molecular Structure; D011106:Polyisoprenyl Phosphates / Q000737:chemistry*; D012717:Sesquiterpenes / Q000737:chemistry*; D013237:Stereoisomerism
chemical_list: D000962:Antimalarials; D037621:Artemisinins; D011106:Polyisoprenyl Phosphates; D012717:Sesquiterpenes; C004808:farnesyl pyrophosphate; C031327:artemisinin
keywords: Amorphadiene synthase; Artemisinin; Dihydroartemisinic acid; Dihydroartemisinic aldehyde; Farnesyl diphosphate; Malaria