Patent ID: 6677463
Filing Date: 2004-01-13
Classification: C07D

Abstract:
A single pot process for preparing artesunic acid from artemisinin the said process comprising the steps of:(a) dissolving artemisinin in a solvent at a temperature ranging between 20 to 35Â° C. to obtain a solution, adding a catalyst to the solution, (b) adding a reducing agent to step (a) solution, stirring the mixture at a temperature ranging between 20 to 35Â° C. for about 0.5 h to 4 h to obtain the reduced product dihydroartemisinin, (c) adding succinic anhydride and a base to the mixture of step (b) at a temperature ranging between 20 to 35Â° C., (d) stirring the mixture of step (c) at a temperature ranging between 20 to 35Â° C. for a time period of 1 h to 3 h, (e) adding cold water to the mixture of step (d), adjusting the pH of the solution between 5 to 7, extracting the solution of pH 5 to 7 with a mixture of ethyl acetate and n-hexane, separating the organic layer, (f) washing the organic layer of step (e) with water, drying the washed organic layer over anhydrous sodium sulphate, filtering, evaporating the organic layer to obtain a residue, and (g) purifying the residue of step (f) over silica gel column chromatography to obtain pure artesunic acid.