Quantitative Analysis of Artemisinin Derivatives: Applications and Techniques

Research on artemisinin and its derivatives (ARTDs) were initiated due to their outstanding anti-malarial effects. In the past few decades, considerable efforts have been made to extend the clinical applications of ARTDs. However, some ARTDs have a low aqueous solubility, short half-life in vivo and instability due to an endoperoxide bridge in their structures that also contributes to a poor bioavailability. The development of efficient quantitative analysis methods is needed for many branches of research, such as the chemical compound determination in plants, drug quality control and drug metabolism studies. The analysis methods used to detect ARTDs include spectroscopy, liquid chromatography, mass spectrometry and immunoassays. However, a systematic quantitative analysis of these compounds as the very first step in many studies has not been always conducted. Thus, this review presents a comprehensive overview of available analytical methods for in vivo and in vitro quantitation of ARTDs. It generalizes and compares the various methods focusing on sample preparation.