Isolation of Dihydroartemisinic Acid from Artemisia annua L. By-Product by Combining Ultrasound-Assisted Extraction with Response Surface Methodology

Malaria is the most devastating parasitic disease worldwide. Artemisinin is the only drug that can cure malaria that is resistant to quinine-derived drugs. After the commercial extraction of artemisinin from Artemisia annua, the recovery of dihydroartemisinic acid (DHAA) from artemisinin extraction by-product has the potential to increase artemisinin commercial yield. Here we describe the development and optimization of an ultrasound-assisted alkaline procedure for the extraction of DHAA from artemisinin production waste using response surface methodology. Our results using this methodology established that NaOH at 0.36%, extraction time of 67.96 min, liquid-solid ratio of 5.89, and ultrasonic power of 83.9W were the optimal conditions to extract DHAA from artemisinin production waste. Under these optimal conditions, we achieved a DHAA yield of 2.7%. Finally, we conducted a validation experiment, and the results confirmed the prediction generated by the regression model developed in this study. This work provides a novel way to increase the production of artemisinin per cultivated area and to reduce artemisinin production costs by recycling its commercial waste to obtain DHAA, an immediate precursor of artemisinin. The use of this technology may reduce the costs of artemisinin-based antimalarial medicines.