Microbial Transformation of Artemisinin to 5-hydroxyartemisinin by Eurotium amstelodami and Aspergillus niger

Transformation of the anti-malarial drug artemisinin by the fungi Eurotium amstelodami and Aspergillus niger were investigated. Cultures were grown in sucrose/malt broth with artemisinin for 14 days and extracted with ethyl acetate. Extracts were characterized by liquid chromatography. Two metabolites from each fungal extract were isolated and identified using mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance. 5β-hydroxyartemisinin and 7β-hydroxyartemisinin were isolated in 63 and 32% yields, respectively, from the extract of E. amstelodami, and 80 and 19%, respectively, from the extract of A. niger