Applying green chemistry to the photochemical route to artemisinin.
Nat Chem
; 7(6): 489-95, 2015 Jun.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-25991527
ABSTRACT
Artemisinin is an important antimalarial drug, but, at present, the environmental and economic costs of its semi-synthetic production are relatively high. Most of these costs lie in the final chemical steps, which follow a complex acid- and photo-catalysed route with oxygenation by both singlet and triplet oxygen. We demonstrate that applying the principles of green chemistry can lead to innovative strategies that avoid many of the problems in current photochemical processes. The first strategy combines the use of liquid CO2 as solvent and a dual-function solid acid/photocatalyst. The second strategy is an ambient-temperature reaction in aqueous mixtures of organic solvents, where the only inputs are dihydroartemisinic acid, O2 and light, and the output is pure, crystalline artemisinin. Everything else-solvents, photocatalyst and aqueous acid-can be recycled. Some aspects developed here through green chemistry are likely to have wider application in photochemistry and other reactions.
Texto completo:
1
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Artemisininas
/
Processos Fotoquímicos
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2015
Tipo de documento:
Article