EXPERIMENTAL SYNTHESIS

Experimental Synthesis Of Aspirin



Experimental Synthesis Of Aspirin

Introduction

Aspirin was initially synthesized in the year 1897 and became a popular household name all around the world. Aspirin is used for the treatment of different symptoms and conditions like pains and aches, fever, blood clot formation and other conditions as well. According to different studies, a dose of 75mg a day of aspirin can assist in reducing the risk of developing certain forms of cancers like bowl cancer (Walsh, 2010, pp. A1-A3). Aspirin is one of the most frequently used drugs in the world. This can be considered as one of the first drug derived from a natural product, salicylic acid, present in the bark of the willow. It is extracted from the bark of a tree called white willow. The bark of this tree has been used for centuries to control fever and reduce pain. The therapeutic substance in this tree is called salicin. The salicin was first synthesized by German chemist named Felix Hoffmann, at the time, worked for the company Bayer. Aspirin was first synthesized in the late nineteenth century by the German chemist Felix Hoffman, and Bayer began marketing. The production process consists of aspirin treating salicylic acid with acetic anhydride, acetylating the-OH group of salicylic acid. This process is slow, but if you add a few drops of concentrated sulfuric acid this reaction occurs rapidly as this acts as a catalyst (Landesberg, 2011, pp. 123-127).

The following experiment demonstrates the aspirin being synthesized through the esterification reaction. In this reaction, the melting points and the percentage yields were taken in order to test the purity and a sample was created. The tests were conducted for the testing of the purity and the product amount created. However, there is a need to conduct more tests in order to confirm the purity.

Objectives

The aim of this experiment is the provision of acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin) from salicylic acid and acetic acid. Once synthesized aspirin should recognize its purity by the ferric chloride test, where this should be negative to positive for aspirin and salicylic acid, and the heat test.

Aspirin Usage

For many decades, it was thought that aspirin characterized three main effects: anti-inflammatory, antipyretic and analgesic less pronounced. It is this triad effects characterizes the class of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), which apart from the aspirin and other salicylates are known drugs of different chemical structures (ortofen, indomethacin, phenylbutazone, etc.). Steroid anti-inflammatory drugs include drugs adrenal cortex, such as hydrocortisone, prednisone (Doe, 2000, pp. A1-A2). Aspirin irreversibly acetylates platelet COX, which, being non-nuclear, are unable to synthesize new molecules of this enzyme, as well as other proteins. As a result, platelets dramatically inhibited the formation of arachidonic acid metabolites, including thromboxane, for the duration of their life (10 days). In irreversible inhibition of COX is the fundamental difference from all other aspirin NSAIDs that inhibit COX reversible. Consequently, they would have to appoint more often than aspirin, which is inconvenient, and fraught with complications ...