TLC‐Densitometric analysis of artemisinin for the rapid screening of high‐producing plantlets of Artemisia annua L.

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Abstract
A simple TLC‐densitometric technique has been developed for the rapid and accurate analysis of artemisinin in a large number of Artemisia annua plantlets cultured in vitro. This new analytical method is based on the structural conversion of artemisinin on a silica gel layer by ammonia vapour to form 10‐azadesoxyartemisinin, a chromophore‐containing compound (λmax 320 nm) that can be detected by UV‐based TLC densitometry. The TLC system was evaluated quantitatively in terms of product stability, precision, accuracy and calibration. Good linearity was obtained in the range of 0.01–0.12 µg artemisinin. The technique appeared to be accurate and sensitive as compared with the complicated pre‐column reaction‐HPLC technique. Among 90 samples of A. annua plantlets, the artemisinin content in the leaves appeared to be highly variable, ranging from 0.02 to 0.67% w/w dry weight. These results demonstrate that densitometric TLC can be a cheap and simple technique for the accurate screening of high‐artemisinin‐producing plants. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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