A deoxyanalog of the Chinese antimalarial drug qinghaosu = artemisinin and deoxyanalogs of dihydroqinghaosu, arteether and its alfa isomer were prepared as analytical standards. Dihydroqinghaosu and deoxydihydroqinghaosu were characterized as highly fluorescent diacetyldihydrofluorescein esters, converted by exposure to ammonia vapors followed by iodine vapors, into red colored and highly visible dyes. Treatment of arteether and its alfa-isomer with hydrochloric acid in ethanol led to a new ethyl ether isomer with the methyl group at C-11 inverted as established by solid state X-ray diffraction analysis.
