Lisa Lee U6MT Aspirin Research

Many people take aspirin daily to reduce the risk cardiovascular diseases by dilating blood vessels. There are also suggestions that it prevents various forms of cancer. However, some research suggests that taking aspirin in the long term might cause blindness. There is the risk of causing internal bleeding and damaging the stomach lining. Some research suggests that aspirin does more harm than good in healthy people, but some healthy people take aspirin daily in the hope that it would prevent cancer since aspirin is cheap and can be obtained easily over the counter. Aspirin works by inhibiting the production of prostaglandins which is necessary for blood clotting and making nerve endings more sensitive to pain. Aspirin is a pain relief and anti-inflammatory drug. The origins The modern father of medicine Hippocrates (460 B.C and 377 B.C), used powder made from bark and leaves of willow trees to relieve pain for headaches, pains and fevers. In 1828, Johann Buchner, professor of pharmacy at the University of Munich, isolated a tiny amount of needle-like crystals from the willow tree, which he called salicin. In 1838, Raffaele, an Italian chemist, had split salicin into a sugar and salicylaldehyde, and converted the latter into an acid of crystallised colourless needles, which he called salicylic acid. In 1897, Felix Hoffmann (a young chemist working for a company called Bayer, Germany) made Aspirin in a more chemically pure, stable and more palatable form. He gave it to his father, who was suffering from arthritis, who saw great improvement. Hoffmann then convinced Bayer to market the new wonder drug. Aspirin was patented on February 27, 1900. However, when Germany lost the war in 1919, they were forced to give up the patent as part of the Treaty of Versailles.

Lisa Lee U6MT Synthesis of Aspirin Aspirin can be from esterification. This reaction can be used to synthesize aspirin from salicylic acid. In the lab, the carboxylic acid alcohol mixture is heated in the presence of sulphuric acid, which acts as a catalyst. During the reaction process, a molecule of water splits off and the remaining carboxylic acid and alcohol fragments become attached producing an ester. Synthesis: The synthesis involves the reaction of salicylic acid and acetic anhydride in the presence of a catalyst, sulphuric acid, H2SO4.

Once the aspirin is prepared it must be isolated from the reaction solution and purified. The aspirin is insoluble in cold water, and can be isolated by filtering the chilled reaction solution. Purification is necessary to remove any unreacted salicylic acid and ethanoic anhydride, as well as the ethanoic acid product and sulphuric acid. Ethanoic anhydride is caused to decompose by the addition of water once the formation of aspirin is complete:

The ethanoic acid and sulphuric acid are water soluble and can be removed by washing the aspirin with chilled water. Salicylic acid is only slightly soluble in water and is not completely removed in the washing step. Final purification is accomplished by the process of recrystallization. The impure aspirin is dissolved in warm ethanol. The solution is then cooled slowly, and the aspirin crystallizes out of solution leaving the salicylic acid and other impurities behind.