Increasing the Strength and Production of Artemisinin and Its Derivatives

Abstract

Artemisinin is a natural sesquiterpene lactone obtained from the Artemisia annua herb. It is widely used for the treatment of malaria. In this article, we have reviewed the role of artemisinin in controlling malaria, spread of resistance to artemisinin and the different methods used for its large scale production. The highest amount of artemisinin gene expression in tobacco leaf chloroplast leads to the production of 0.8 mg/g of the dry weight of the plant. This will revolutionize the treatment and control of malaria in third world countries. Furthermore, the generations of novel derivatives of artemisinin- and trioxane ring structure-inspired compounds are important for the treatment of malaria caused by resistant plasmodial species. Synthetic endoperoxide-like artefenomel and its derivatives are crucial for the control of malaria and such synthetic compounds should be further explored.

Assessment of Artemisinin Contents in Selected Artemisia Species from Tajikistan (Central Asia)

“…Literature reports indicated that extraction of artemisinin has been carried out by different extraction methods: traditional solvent extraction, microwave-assisted extraction, ultrasound-aided extraction, and supercritical fluid extraction method using CO 2 as a solvent [20,46]. n -hexane [38], toluene [40], chloroform [41], petroleum ether [44], acetone, and ethanol [47] were the solvents most widely used for artemisinin extraction from Artemisia species.…”

“…Recently, research interest in biotechnological approaches for enhanced artemisinin production in Artemisia have increased due to the global needs and low amounts of artemisinin and its derivatives in Artemisia plants [34]. Various biotechnological approaches such as the transformation of genes for production of artemisinin to cells of eukaryotic and prokaryotic organisms and to genetically engineered yeast were developed to enhance the production of artemisinin and its derivatives [35,36,37,38].…”

Bioactivity Profile of the Diterpene Isosteviol and its Derivatives

“…However, further studies are needed for its effects on the blood–brain barrier and during pregnancy, on whether it is safe to consume or not. For commercial and large-scale production of plant based important secondary metabolites, the expression of the genes that codes for the enzymes involved in their metabolic pathway into yeast or the tobacco plant offered an opportunity [28,29]. Gold et al expressed several genes that coded the different enzymes involved in the synthesis of steviosides in baker’s yeast, and the production of steviosides from glucose gave a good yield [30].…”

Combining enyne metathesis with long-established organic transformations: a powerful strategy for the sustainable synthesis of bioactive molecules

“…Due to its biological relevance, artemisinin, a tricyclic compound bearing a peroxide bridge, has been subject of extensive scientific investigations during the last decade [53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63]. In this context, Seeberger and co-workers successfully developed an ingenious continuous-flow process for the hemisynthesis of pure artemisinin from dihydroartemisinic acid (DHAA) [64,65].…”