Preparation of a novel nano-photosensitizer utilized for the photooxygenation of an organic material: A leap towards more efficient production of Artemisinin medicine

Artemisinin is considered as a first in-line and perhaps the only effective medicine for malaria, one of the deadliest diseases known, is synthesized often from the Dihydroartimisinic Acid through one photo-oxygenation followed by one acid-catalysed reactions. Still, photooxygenation of Dihydroartemisinic Acid which is based upon Homogeneous photosensitizers suffers from two problems including; the downstream separation as well as; photosensitizers’ photobleaching. In this venue, heterogenizing of photosensitizers partially resolved these problems. This action nonetheless; involved multiple low yielding steps modifying the photosensitizers hence, requiring a tedious work-up procedure to perform coatings upon the surface of particles. This led to formation of only one layer of photosensitizer on the surface of the solid particles. Based upon the swelling ability of polymers, these researchers solved these problems through embedding of photosensitizers into a polymer structure obtaining several layers of photosensitizers on the surface of nano-particles during a rather super simple procedure requiring neither chemical reactions nor pre-treatments to be performed upon the photosensitizer. Then, these produced materials were used to perform photooxygenation of Dihydroartemisinic Acid, in a continuous flow through glass micro-reactor. This study revealed that the conversion of Dihydroartemisinic Acid reached 53%, being a very promising results towards pharmaceutical applications intended.