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Aspirin

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We are all familiar with aspirin. But, what exactly is aspirin? I suppose if one wanted to learn more about aspirin, one should consult Bayer, the most well known makers of aspirin. Bayer has a separate Aspirin site which provides a bit of history. Felix Hoffman, a chemist who worked for Bayer, first synthesized aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid or ASA) in a chemically pure and stable form in 1897. According to the site, the story of aspirin actually started 3,500 years before that. The Egyptians used a concoction of dried myrtle leaves to treat pain. One thousand years later, Hippocrates was recommending the juice of the bark willow tree for pain. Both contain salicylic acid, the key component of aspirin. To learn about the chemistry involved in making aspirin, take a look at Molecule of the Month, Aspirin . This web page can be viewed in various ways depending on if you have a JAVA enabled browser or access to CHIME (a chemical structure visualization program or plug-in). If not, there is an HTML only version. The chemical equations for making aspirin as well as its structure are given here. Where did the word aspirin come from? Well, "a" stands for acetylsalicylic acid, "spir" stands for spiraea ulmaria (the Latin name for the plant Meadowsweet from which one can extract salicylic acid) and "in" is a chemical suffix use to indicate a manufactured ingredient. Bayer took out a patent for aspirin and trademarked it under the name Aspirin® worldwide in 1899. Bayer lost the both the patent and trademark after the First World War. Then in 1920, courts in the US ruled that aspirin was a generic term, so that other manufacturers could sell ASA under the name aspirin. Aspirin is still trademarked in some countries, such as Canada and Germany, today.

A wonderful site about aspirin that you might like to visit is the Aspirin Adventures . It will give you a different point of view then a corporate site. Directed toward students, it goes through the process of discovering aspirin step by step, starting with observations and gathering information, then going on to formulating a hypothesis, testing and drawing conclusions. A really great fun site that is worth a visit is The Reconstructors. This is one of those glorious interactive sites. You are in the future where much of the medical knowledge has been lost. It is your job to recover it. Have fun rediscovering aspirin. Watch out, you might just spend all day on this site.

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