Determination of Artemisinin Content in Artemisia annua L

Artemisinin from dry leaves of Artemisia annua L. was extracted by supercritical ! uid extraction using CO 2 as the solvent and Microwave-assisted extraction by di" erent solvents as ethanol, chloroform, n-hexane and toluene. Extracts were analyzed in GC-MS system gas chromatograph, by comparison of the retention time with that of the standard artemisinin. Determination of arteannuin B, artemisinic acids were conducted by comparison of the spectrum with that of a library. The content of artemisinin was determined as 0.29-0.85% of dry weight for microwave-assisted extraction, and 0.32% for supercritical ! uid extraction, for arteannuin B as 0.18-1.23% and 1.18%, for artemisinic acid as 0.32-2.33% and 0.66%, respectively. The yield of total extract obtained by supercritical ! uid extraction was 1.70%, by microwave-assisted extraction 1.33-8.62%. Best solvents for the artemisinin extraction were toluene, chloroform and ethanol.