{"id":4734,"date":"2025-10-01T08:29:42","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T06:29:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.molport.com\/?p=4734"},"modified":"2025-09-02T08:43:29","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T06:43:29","slug":"molport-chronicles-from-alchemy-to-pharma-no-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.molport.com\/news\/molport-chronicles-from-alchemy-to-pharma-no-6\/","title":{"rendered":"Molport Chronicles- from Alchemy to Pharma No.6"},"content":{"rendered":"

The journey of <\/span>ASPIRIN<\/span><\/h2>\n

The journey of aspirin<\/a> spans millennia\u2014from ancient herbal remedies to <\/span>an <\/span>industrial pharmaceutical icon.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Between 3000<\/span> and <\/span>1500 BC, Sumerians and Egyptians used willow bark to treat pain and inflammation. The Ebers Papyrus<\/a> confirms its use as a natural analgesic. Around 400 BC, Hippocrates administered willow leaf tea to ease childbirth.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In 1763, Oxfordshire vicar Edward Stone documented willow bark\u2019s fever-fighting effects to the Royal Society. By 1828, Joseph Buchner isolated salicin, the active component. Then, in 1853, Charles Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Gerhardt synthesized acetylsalicylic acid (ASA), though without fully realizing its therapeutic value. This came thanks to centuries of herbal tradition kept alive partly by monastic communities, who long preserved plant-based medicinal knowledge.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A clinical trial in 1876 confirmed salicin\u2019s efficacy in rheumatism. In 1897, Felix Hoffmann at Bayer, possibly guided by Arthur Eichengr\u00fcn, chemically modified salicylic acid by acetylation to reduce stomach irritation\u2014this was the birth of modern aspirin.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The key to scalable production came through the Kolbe-Schmitt<\/a> reaction, developed earlier in the 1860s, which enabled the cheap and efficient industrial synthesis of salicylic acid from phenol and CO\u2082. This made aspirin widely accessible.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In 1899, Bayer became the first to commercialize acetylsalicylic acid as Aspirin: \u201cA\u201d for acetyl, \u201cspir\u201d from <\/span>Spiraea ulmaria<\/span><\/i> (meadowsweet), and \u201cin\u201d for the common drug suffix.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, in 1971, John Vane uncovered its mechanism\u2014prostaglandin inhibition\u2014winning a Nobel Prize in 1982 alongside Bengt Samuelsson and Sune Bergstr\u00f6m.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

From monks and meadowsweet to mass production and medicine cabinets worldwide, aspirin is one of history\u2019s most enduring and transformative drugs.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Molport<\/p>\n

Other Molport Chronicles posts- from Alchemy to Pharma:<\/p>\n