Skip to main content
ARS Home » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #167160
Title: ANALYSIS OF ARTEMISININ AND ITS PRECURSORS FROM ARTEMISIA ANNUA L. BY GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY WITH FLAME IONIZATION DETECTION (GC-FID) AND HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQ CHROMATOGRAPHY WITH EVAPORATIVE LIGHT SCATTERING DETECTION (HPLC-ELSD)

Author
item CONGYUE, PENG - SIU-CARBONDALE
item Ferreira, Jorge
item WOOD, ANDREW - SIU-CARBONDALE

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Other
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/4/2004
Publication Date: 5/20/2004
Citation: Peng, C., Ferreira, J.F.S., Wood, A.J. Analysis of artemisinin and its precursors from Artemisia annua L. by gas chromatography with flame ionization detection (GC-FID) and high-performance liquid chromatography with evaporative light scattering detection (HPLC-ELSD). Congresso Ibero-Americano de Plantas Medicinais, p. 78, III Jornada de Fitoterapia do Rio de Janeiro, May 20-23, 2004, Angra dos Reis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Since the isolation and structural elucidation of artemisinin 32 years ago, artemisinin has been analyzed by different chromatographic techniques, including thin-layer chromatography (TLC), HPLC, GC, radioimmunoassay, and enzyme immunoassay. Due to the lack of chromophores, artemisinin is suitable for HPLC with UV detection only after derivatization. In the past, GC-FID analysis has been discarded due to the overlapping of one of the peaks generated by arteannuin B (a precursor) with one of the artemisinin degradation peaks, and HPLC with electrochemical detection (HPLC-EC) has been the choice method of analysis. This work compared the analyses of artemisinin, dihydroartemisinin, arteannuin B, and artemisinic acid from crude plant samples by GC with flame ionization detection (GC-FID) and HPLC with evaporative light scattering detector (HPLC-ELSD). Artemisia annua plants were field grown in Carbondale, Illinois. GC-FID and HPLC-ELSD were chosen due to their low cost compared to GC or HPLC coupled with mass spectrometry, and to their ease of operation compared to HPLC-EC. Both GC-FID and HPLC-ELSD provided sensitive (ng level) and reproducible results when they were compared through the analysis of artemisinin, the main compound found in field-grown plants in Southern Illinois. The methods had a correlation coefficient of r2= 0.87. Analysis of artemisinin either from plant samples, biological samples, and pharmaceutical druds related to artemisinin is possible by using either GC-FID or HPLC-ELSD. Both methods have been found more efficient and easier to establish than HPLC coupled to electrochemical detection, and cheaper than HPLC or GC coupled to mass spectrometry.