Simultaneous Determination of Artemisinin and Its Bioprecursors in Artemisia annua

Abstract

Artemisia annua has been used for the treatment of fever and malaria. Artemisinin [1], a sesquiterpene lactone constituent of this plane, is responsible for its therapeutic effects. A rapid, sensitive, and specific reversed-phase hplc method using electrochemical and uv detection has been developed for the simultaneous determination in plant extracts of 1 and its bioprecursors artemisinic acid [2], arteannuin B [3], and artemisitene [4].