A COMPARISON OF GAS-CHROMATOGRAPHY AND HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHY FOR ARTEMISININ ANALYSES

An improved method for high performance liquid chromatography with ele ctrochemical detection (HPLC-EC) is presented for artemisinin analysis . It involves increased concentration of organic phase, elimination of the degassing step in sample preparation, and reduced time for heatin g and degassing in mobile phase preparation and recycling. The HPLC-EC method was compared to a gas chromatographic (GC) method, which measu red artemisinin indirectly through two of its degradation products, la belled A and B. Both methods provided a good separation of artemisinin from artemisitene, arteannuin B, and the semisynthetic dihydroartemis inin. Peak B provided a higher correlation to the levels of artemisini n detected by HPLC-EC. Peaks A, B and Z (a small peak preceding A and B) were identified through electron impact and chemical ionization spe ctra from GC-mass spectral analysis