Molecular design of polymers for artemisinin

Abstract

The main objective of this study was the development of polymeric materials capable of the selective sequestering of artemisinin. The project was divided into three parts: the computational design of polymers with specificity for artemisinin (starting with the design of a virtual library of suitable monomers, and their screening); polymer synthesis and testing; and evaluation of artemisinin purification from plant extracts (including studies of elution of artemisinin from the polymer, and polymer regeneration). A polymer based on N,N-methylenebisacrylamide (MBAA) was found to be the most suitable