2007-05-25 09:31:27 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Chemistry
Salicylic acid is NOT the active component in aspirin. Acetylsalicylic acid is. They differ by an acetyl group.
Salicylic acid is ortho-hydroxybenzoic acid.
2007-05-25 09:40:31 · answer #1 · answered by Rick P. 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It is NOT aspirin, but a chemical forerunner to the famous drug. Aspirin is AcetylSalicylic Acid.
The UIPAC (or official, chemical) name of salicylic acid is 2-Hydroxybenzoic acid (or ortho-Hydroxybenzoic acid), which means that the hydroxyl (-OH) and acid (-COOH) groups are on adjacent carbon atoms in the benzene ring.
Salicylic acid was already used in the ancient Greece to relieve pains. The French chemist Gerhardt used it to prepare aspirin in the mid 19th century, but the German chemist Hoffman (also the inventor of Heroin), at the time working for Bayer, first made aspirin commercially available by also using salicylic acid, but in a different process from Gerhardt.
2007-05-25 16:41:58 · answer #2 · answered by Damien 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In other words (LOL), it's o-hydroxybenzoic acid. It is indeed found in willow bark, and it was used in the 19th Century for aches and pains. In the 19th Century also, a chemist named von Bayer treated it with acetic anhydride and alkali to form sodium acetylsalicylate, which we call aspirin. It can be esterified with methyl alcohol to make methyl salicylate, sold as oil of wintergreen, which is a yummy mint flavor.
2007-05-25 16:43:39 · answer #3 · answered by steve_geo1 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
it is o-hydroxy benzoic acid.
it is indeed found in the willow bark, but is too acidic. a better form, which has the same effect is aspirin, which is it´s ethyl ester
2007-05-25 16:39:54 · answer #4 · answered by chem_freak 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
thats an ingredient in blackhead face wash.
2007-05-25 16:39:52 · answer #5 · answered by InProgress:-) 4 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Aspirin.
It can be found in willow bark.
2007-05-25 16:34:23 · answer #6 · answered by Eric 6 · 0⤊ 3⤋