Artemisinin, developed by Ms. Tu Youyou Youyou, is used to treat malaria.
Artemisinin (Artemisinin) is an organic compound, the molecular formula is C15H22O5, relative molecular mass ?282.34.
Artemisinin is a colorless needle-like crystals, melting point of 156 ~ 157 ℃, soluble in chloroform, acetone, ethyl acetate and benzene, soluble in ethanol, ether, slightly soluble in cold petroleum ether, almost insoluble in water. It is almost insoluble in water. Because it has a special peroxy group, it is not stable to heat, easy to be affected by moisture, heat and reducing substances and decomposition.
Artemisinin is the most effective drug for treating malaria drug resistance, and artemisinin-based combination therapies are the most effective and important means of treating malaria today.
But in recent years, with the depth of research, artemisinin other roles are more and more discovered and applied research, such as anti-tumor, treatment of pulmonary hypertension, anti-diabetic, embryotoxicity, anti-fungal, immunomodulatory, anti-viral, anti-inflammatory, anti-pulmonary fibrosis, anti-bacterial, cardiovascular effects, and many other pharmacological effects.
Tu Youyou
Has been engaged in the research of traditional Chinese medicine and the combination of Chinese and Western medicines for many years, and her outstanding contribution is the creation of a new type of anti-malarial drug, artemisinin, and dihydroartemisinin, which was successfully extracted from the colorless crystals with the molecular formula of C15H22O5 in 1972, and was named as artemisinin.
In September 2011, he was awarded the Lasker Prize and the GlaxoSmithKline China R&D Center's "Outstanding Achievement in Life Sciences Award" for his discovery of artemisinin, a drug used in the treatment of malaria, which has saved millions of lives around the world, especially in developing countries. ".
Won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in October 2015 for her discovery of artemisinin, a drug that effectively reduces mortality in malaria patients. She became the first Chinese to win a Nobel Prize in the science category.