Painkillers aspirin

The other major drugs that possess such analgesic properties are the over-the-counter painkillers aspirin, acetaminophen, and ibuprofen (see Chapter 14). Table 10.1 lists some of the major opiate drugs used as analgesics along with their potency and their duration of action. Recall that potency refers to the dose required for... 

The esterification of 2-hydroxybenzoic acid to form the painkiller, aspirin... 

The world is composed of molecules. Some are synthetic while many others are products of nature. Molecules That Amaze Us presents the stories behind many of the most famous and infamous molecules that make up our modern world. Examples include the molecule responsible for the spicy heat in chillies (capsaicin), the world s first synthetic painkiller (aspirin), the pigment responsible for the color of autumn leaves (carotene), the explosive in dynamite (nitroglycerine), the antimalarial drug (quinine), the drug known as "speed" (methamphetamine), and many others. 

At some time in your life you have probably ingested at least one of the painkillers aspirin, acetaminophen, naproxen, or ibuprofen, perhaps better i known under one of their respective brand names, aspirin, Tylenol, Naprosyn, and Advil. Aspirin, acetaminophen, and ibuprofen are ortho- or para-(hsubstituted benzenes naproxen is a disubstituted naphthalene. How are such compounds synthesized The answer is by electrophilic aromatic substitution. 

One of the first and most useful medicinal chemicals is aspirin (CgHgO ), also known as acetylsalicylic acid. This painkiller was first trademarked and manufactured in 1899, but a precursor to the drug had been extracted from the bark of willow trees by Hippocrates as early as the 5th century b.c. The pharmaceutical industry has since developed an array of products to alleviate aches and pains, yet aspirin is still prominent on the shelves of drugstores. In pharmacies that dispense prescription drugs, an even wider array of chemicals is sold to help those with diseases ranging from high blood pressure to cancer. 

The word analgesia is from the Greek an-, meaning not or without, + algesis, sense of pain. Codeine is more potent than other pain-relieving medications, such as aspirin and ibupro-fen, but less potent than the really serious painkillers—morphine, oxycodone -I- acetaminophen, hydromorphone. When a... 

Carbonation Kolbe reaction Treatment of a salt of a phenol with CO2 replaces a ring hydrogen with a carboxyl group. This reaction is applied in the conversion of phenol itself into ort/io-hydroxybenzoic acid, known as salicylic acid. Acetylation of salicylic acid produces acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin), which is the most popular painkiller in use today. 

That s quite a claim for the little pill that was concocted in 1897 by Felix Hoffmann, a chemist working for the Bayer company in Germany. While Hoffmann did synthesize the first commercial sample of acetylsalicylic acid, as aspirin is known generically, he wasn t the first to produce the substance in the laboratory. That honor goes to Karl Friedrich Gerhardt, who, in 1853 at Montpellier University in France, concocted an impure version with an eye towards improving on the effects of salicylic acid, a commonly used painkiller. At the time salicylic acid was extracted from the leaves of the meadowsweet plant and used for the treatment of fevers and pain, particularly of the arthritic variety. But it had to be taken in... 

Codeine, which could be derived either directly from opium or (more usually) from morphine, came to be preferred by many as a pain killer. Compared to morphine, codeine was less powerful as a painkiller but also produced less sedation and potentially dangerous respiratory suppression. Codeine is sometimes combined with aspirin or other drugs to provide moderate pain relief. However, steady users can become addicted to the drug. 

Aspirin (Figure 15.12) is one of the most frequendy used painkillers in the world. It is also able to reduce inflammation and fever and a low dose taken on a daily basis over the age of 50 may prevent heart attacks. It is derived from another acid, salicylic acid, which can be obtained from willow bark. Salicylic acid has the same medicinal properties as aspirin and has been known since 1829. Salicylic acid, however, caused stomach bleeding. The conversion of salicylic acid to aspirin reduced these problems, but aspirin still has some adverse effects on the stomach if taken in excess. 

Oxycodone is available alone or in combination with either acetaminophen or aspirin. Its chemical structure is most closely related to codeine, but it has strong painkilling effects equal to those of morphine. 

Lipoic acid uses its S-S bond in redox reactions (Chapter 50), while shikimic acid is an intermediate in the formation of compounds with benzene rings, such as phenylalanine, in living things (Chapter 49). Salicylic acid s ethyl ester is aspirin, which is, of course, like the last example ibuprofen, a painkiller. 

Wood has been utilized by humans since antiquity. Trees provided a source of many products required by early humans such as food, medicine, fuel, and tools. For example, the bark of the willow tree, when chewed, was used as a painkiller in early Greece and was the precursor of the present-day aspirin. Wood served as the primary fuel in the United States until about the turn of the 19th century, and even today over one-half of the wood now harvested in the world is used for heating fuel. 

The product is acetylsalicylic acid, commonly known as aspirin, which is used in huge quantities as an analgesic (painkiller). 

Native Americans, the people Christopher Columbus called Indians, were peeling off the bark of willow trees and drinking a tea brewed from it to ease their aches and pains long before Europeans set foot in the New World. Eventually, the active ingredient was isolated and identified as acetylsalicylic acid, more commonly known as aspirin. In 1899, Bayer launched a synthesized aspirin product as an anti-inflammatory and painkilling over-the-counter medicine, and it quickly became the most widely used agent in the history of medicine. 

As a side note, remember that the most frequently used drug, aspirin, was discovered by Native Americans who brewed the bark of the willow tree to treat aches and pains. Of course, they didn t realize that the brown tea they shared with early settlers contained what scientists came to identify as acetylsalicylic acid, more commonly known as aspirin. It was only within recent decades that medical researchers have determined just how aspirin works its anti-inflammatory and painkilling wonders by altering hormonelike substances called prostaglandins. 

The isolation of strychnine (1), morphine (2), atropine (3), colchicine (4), and quinine (5) in the early 1800s from the commonly used plants and their use for the treatment of certain ailments might constitute the early idea of pure compounds as drugs. E. Merck isolated and commercialized morphine (2) as the first pure natural product for the treatment of pain (1-3). Preparations of the Willow tree have been used as a painkiller for a long period in traditional medicine. Isolation of salicylic acid (6) as the active component followed by acetylation produced the semisynthetic product called Aspirin (7) that was commercialized by Bayer in 1899 for the treatment of arthritis and pain (4). 

In Chapter 10 we discussed the use of opiate drugs in the treatment of pain. But the use of opiates for pain relief is usually reserved for severe cases. Many effective painkillers are available over the counter, and aspirin is the most widely known and used. Acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin) is closely related to a chemical found in the bark of the willow and other trees (salicylic acid). Willow bark was used in the treatment of painful conditions and fever by the ancient Greeks and by Native Americans. Salicylic acid was isolated and used as a pain reliever in Europe, but it causes severe stomach distress. It was not until the late 19th century that acetylsalicylic acid was synthesized and named aspirin by the. Bayer Company of Germany. Aspirin has come to be one of the most important drugs in medicine. It is marketed under the brand names Anacin, Bufferin, and Excedrin to name just a few, and more than 10,000 tons of aspirin are consumed in the United States every year (Julien, 2005). 

In 1863 Friedrich Bayer cofounded a dye manufacturing company in Germany. Eight years after his death, in 1888 the company opened a pharmaceutical division. A decade later, employee Felix Floffman, concerned over his father s aches and pains, discovered a useful chemical in the waste of the dye process. Known as aspirin, it remains a popular painkiller over 100 years later. 

---