malarial drugs. Semisynthetic ARTs are obtained from dihydroartemisinin (DHA), which is the reduced lactol derivative of ART, the main active metabolite of ARTs (Li et al., 1998). The first generation of semisynthetic ARTs includes the lipophilic arts, arteether (AE) and artemether (AM), while artesunate (AS) is the water soluble derivative (Li and Weina, 2011). AS and its bioactive metabolite, DHA, have been the topic of considerable research attention in recent years for both anti-cancer and antimalarial indications. The key structural feature in all of the ART-related molecules that mediates their antimalarial activity, and some of their anti-cancer activities, is an endoperoxide bridge. The endoperoxides are a promising class of antimalarial drugs which may meet the dual challenges posed by drug-resistant parasites and the rapid progression of malarial illness. Of the available derivatives, AS has the most favorable pharmacological profile for use in ART-based combination therapy treatment of uncomplicated malaria and intravenous therapy of severe malaria (Li and Weina, 2010a). The effectiveness of AS has been mostly attributed to its rapid and extensive hydrolysis to DHA (

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