Applying green chemistry to the photochemical route to artemisinin

作者：Amara Zacharias^*; Bellamy Jessica F B; Horvath Raphael; Miller Samuel J; Beeby Andrew; Burgard Andreas; Rossen Kai; Poliakoff Martyn; George Michael W

来源：Nature Chemistry, 2015, 7(6): 489-495.

DOI：10.1038/NCHEM.2261

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 photocatalysed 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, O-2 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.

• 出版日期2015-6
• 单位宁波诺丁汉大学