About the Thermal Behavior of Acetylsalicylic Acid and Aspirin

Early high cultures already used willow bark as a remedy for fever and pain [1]; the Roman scholar, Plinius the Elder, regarded willow bark as a medicine and the Teutons and Celts produced extracts by cooking willow bark, the ingredients of which were chemically related to synthetic acetylsalicylic acid [2].

Although various chemists were able to produce salicin and salicylic acid in the 19th century, it was not until 1897 that Felix Hoffmann succeeded in synthesizing acetylsalicylic acid without impurities at BAYER’s headquarters in Wuppertal-Elberfeld, Germany. Kurt Wittauer (figure 2) tested this drug on patients in the following years until BAYER (figure 1) finally filed for the corresponding patent in 1921.