Patent ID: 6685972
Filing Date: 2004-02-03
Classification: A61K

Abstract:
A process for the preparation of artemisinin from Artemisia annua, said process comprising:(i) extracting plant parts of Artemisia annua with a non-aqueous polar solvent; (ii) concentrating the extract of step (i) to recover the polar solvent; (iii) adding water to the aforesaid concentrated extract; (iv) adding hydrocarbon solvent to partition the aqueous extract of step (iii) into an aqueous layer and an organic layer; (v) separating the organic layer from the solution of step (iv); (vi) concentrating the organic layer of step (v) to obtain an oily liquid; (vii) adding ethyl acetate to the oily liquid of step (vi); (viii) treating the solution of step (vii) with a color absorbing agent to remove greenish pigmentation; (ix) filtering the solution to remove the color absorbing substance, and (x) evaporating the solution followed by crystallization to obtain pure artemisinin.