Topic Definition Aspirin was invented in late 1890s. More than a hundred years later, due to its fever-reducing and anti-inflammatory effects, it has become one of the world’s most extensively used medicines. Interestingly, this famous medicine, at the beginning, was invented by a German scientist in order to find out an effective remedy to cure his father’s pain. History Innovated by the fact that ancient people use willow bark to ease pain, the first chemically pure and stable acetylsalicylic acid was synthesized by a German chemist called Felix Hoffmann, in 1897 (Bayer AG, 2011). Aspirin was firstly taken by his father in order to reduce his arthritis pain. Aspirin successfully eased the pain. After two years’ laboratory experiment, aspirin as a product was first launched by Bayer AG in 1899 (Bayer AG, 2011). The coming world war accidentally boosted the demand of aspirin. Science Organization The invention of aspirin, a medical-breakthrough, mainly belongs to the knowledge of chemistry. In order to study how aspirin actually work and its possible side-effect, pharmacology knowledge is also needed. Knowledge In terms of production, aspirin can be produced either manually or industrially. Aspirin also known as acetylsalicylic acid to chemists can be obtained from willow bark. In terms of making aspirin industrially, phenol, sodium hydroxide, carbon dioxide, and acid are needed. Firstly, phenol is mixed with concentrated sodium hydroxide to get sodium phenoxide. Then, reacted with carbon dioxide, sodium salicylate is generated. After that, in acidic solvent, sodium ions are substituted by H+ ions. In this way, salicylic acid is produced. To make hard aspirin tablets, corn starch and water need to be added to salicylic acid. Finally, the chemical mixture is compressed into tablets by tablet machines. In the 100 years after aspirin’s birth, although people appreciate its function of pain-curing, no one knew how aspirin actually works until the late 1990s. In the 1970s scientists learned that it is the release of prostaglandins, the molecules which are similar to hormone, after injuries that cause fever and inflammation. The analysis of PGHS (prostaglandin H2 synthase), the enzyme that produces prostaglandin finally reveals the working process of aspirin. The enzyme is surrounded by 2 protein subunit, arachidonic acid, a basic component of prostaglandin, travels through the channel in between the two protein subunits to the core of the PGHS enzyme. Aspirin molecule splits into two, saliucylic acid and acetytl group, after entering the channel of the PGHS enzyme. With the acetyl group blocking the entrance of the channel, arachidonic acid cannot get access to the core of the PGHS enzyme, hence stop the production of prostaglandin.
In 2015, Doweiko’s research found that ”It is impossible for drugs to travel throughout the body without possible side effects“ (Doweiko, 2015, p.16). ”Prime affects versus side effects have been studied in order to find out how drugs harm but are contributing to healing“ (Doweiko, 2015, p. 16). The primary concern appears to be whether harm has to be the lesser concern in order to heal. Aspirin was used as an example of the healing component versus the side
Aspirin contains the substance acetylsalicylic acid (ASA), which can relieve inflammation, fever, pain, and known as a “blood thinner”. Aspirin was not officially trademarked until March 6, 1899 when the Imperial Office of Berlin made it official. It has been used for the last 110 years, but its natural form, salicylic acid has been around for thousands by Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans. Aspirin is available in over 80 countries and known as the best non-prescription drug. The most common use of aspirin is to cure headaches and use it as a pain reliever, but aspirin is known to prevent heart attack and strokes. It was first proposed in 1940, but wasn’t confirmed until 1970 when doctors would recommend taking aspirin daily [1].
Cyclooxygenase (COX) is the enzyme responsible for converting arachidonic acid to prostaglandins and their product. Prostaglandins are the group of chemical mediators which are made at the site of tissue damage or in the infected site causing inflammation and pain. Cyclooxygenase has two different enzymes (McCuiston et. al, 2018).
In the late 1800’s it was discovered that papa-amino-phenol, could reduce fever, but the drug was too toxic to use. A less toxic extract called phenacetin was later found to be just as effective but also had pain-relieving properties. In 1949, it was learned that phenacetin was metabolized into an active but also less toxic drug, acetaminophen. Since then, acetaminophen has been sold under many over the counter brand names, most popular being Tylenol.
Bishop, M. Fody, E. & Schoeff, L., 2005. Clinical Chemistry: Principles, Procedures, Correlations. 5th ed.
Opium, the first opioid, is derived from the sap of opium poppies, whose growth and cultivation dates back to the ancient civilization of Mesopotamia around 3400 BC. Egyptians and Persians initially used opium. Eventually spreading to various parts of Europe, India, China, and the Middle East. During the 18th century, physicians in the U.S. used opium as a therapeutic agent for multiple purposes, including relieving pain in cancer, spasms from tetanus, and pain attendant to menstruation and childbirth. It was merely towards the end of the 18th century that some physicians came to recognize the addictive quality of opium.
The purpose of this experiment was to learn and preform an acid-base extraction technique to separate organic compounds successfully and obtaining amounts of each component in the mixture. In this experiment, the separation will be done by separatory funnel preforming on two liquids that are immiscible from two layers when added together. The individual components of Phensuprin (Acetylsalicylic acid, Acetanilide, and Sucrose as a filler) was separated based upon their solubility and reactivity, and the amount of each component in the mixture was obtained. Also, the purity of each component will be determined by the melting point of the component.
COX-1 and COX-2 are isomeric enzymes that contain peroxidase and cyclooxygenase activity which can produce prostaglandins through the activity of prostaglandin G/H synthases [10]. COX-1 produces prostanoids which serve cell “housekeeping” functions. COX-2 can be activated by inflammatory stimuli and produces prostanoids in inflammatory or proliferative diseases such as cancer. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are competitive inhibitors of COX. Thus the binding of NSAIDs can supress prostanoid formation [11].
Both of them researched the drug while working for Bayer and they are credited with actually naming it "aspirin".
The first pain medication explored was "sweet vitriol" or ether. Raymundus Lullius, a Spanish chemist, experimented with ether in 1275. Dr. Crawford Williams Long first used ether in medical procedures as an anesthesia on March 30, 1842. Dr. Long extracted a tumor from the neck of one of his patients.
Paracelsus came across a specific elixir of opium that was in great use of reducing pain. He called the preparation laudanum, and it still remains available by prescription in the United States. Thomas Sydenham, who is known as the “father of English medicine,” introduced his own variation of laudanum in the year 1680. It contained opium, sherry, and an assortment of herbs. In 1806, morphine was isolated from opium by a German chemist known as Friedrich Wilhelm Adam Sertürner. He decided to name it morphine after the god of dreams, Morpheus. Morphine soon became the mainstay of medical treatment throughout the nineteenth century. The drug was used to treat pain, anxiety, and respiratory problems, as well as a number of other common problems the public faced. Morphine played a big role during the Civil War, because a larger number of soldiers became addicted to the opiate that was used to help with their injuries from battle. In 1853, the hypodermic needle was invented. Morphine began to be used in minor surgeries which gave rise to the medicalization of opioids. Safer alternatives to the drug was sought after since so many individuals were beginning to abuse morphine. (Website
Background Information Aspirin is an analgesic (pain relieving) and an antipyretic drug (a drug that lowers body temperature). The main constituent of aspirin is 2 - ethanoythydroxybenzoic acid, also known as acetylsalicyclic acid (shown below right). It was originally made from just salicylic acid (which is found in the bark of a willow tree) when used by the Ancient Greeks to counter fever and pain, but its bitterness and tendency to irritate the stomach caused problems. These were resolved by the German chemist Felix Hoffman, who made the acetyl derivative of salicylic acid in the
Drugs have been around for thousands of years but their reasons for being used has changed. Drugs were originally intended for medical uses. In ancient Egypt, physicians prescribed tannic acid to treat burns. The early Chinese and Greek pharmacies included opium used as a pain- killer, while Hindus used cannabis and henbane plants as an esthetic. With the advances in technology drugs have become more helpful yet more deadly.
Hippocrates' authority lasted throughout the Middle Ages and reminded alchemists and medical experimenters of the potential of inorganic drugs. In fact, a distant descendant of Hippocrates' prescriptions was the use of antimony salts in elixirs (alcoholic solutions) advocated by Basilius Valentius in the middle of the 15th century and by the medical alchemist Phillippus Aureolus Paracelsus (born Theophrastus Bombast von Hohenheim, in Switzerland, 1493-1541).
Over the centuries, several treatment methods have been utilized by humans for remedy diseases when they caught. Two of them are modern medicine and traditional medicine. Traditional medicine, which is also called alternative treatment, is older than modern medicine. This effective treatment had been used for many centuries before modern medicine was found. On the contrary, modern medicine has been used since the 1900’s (Lyons). In this system, drugs’ tests are carefully done in the safe laboratories, and their side effects are identified before they are given to the patient. Moreover, the effects of the pills are written on the leaflets which are found in the drug packages to warn the patients for these effects. However, sometimes the side effects are not blocked, so people have to take another pill to get better. It makes people take more chemicals into their bodies. Even traditional medicine, give its place to the modern medicine when its beginning times, it is used efficaciously like modern medicine at the present time. In course of time, people will gain reliance on traditional medicine again, since alternative medicine is more efficient and powerful in order to get better and soothe the diseases than modern medicine. In fact, in traditional medicine, there are fewer drugs, side effects, holistic therapy that people can be availed.