Willow active extract of the bark, called salicin, was isolated to its crystalline form in 1828 by Henri Leroux, a French pharmacist, and Raffaele Piria, an Italian chemist, who then succeeded in separating out the compound in its pure state. In 1897, Felix Hoffmann created a synthetically altered version of salicin (in his case derived from the "Spiraea" plant), which caused less digestive upset than pure salicylic acid. The new drug, formally acetylsalicylic acid, was named Aspirin by Hoffmann's employer Bayer AG. This gave rise to the hugely important class of drugs known as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Some of humans'
Moronic acid Moronic acid Moronic acid (3-oxoolean-18-en-28-oic acid) is a natural triterpene. Moronic acid can be extracted from "Rhus javanica", a sumac plant traditionally believed to hold medicinal applications. The molecule has also been extracted from Mistletoe ("Phoradendron reichenbachianum"). Bevirimat, a derivative of the related triterpenoid betulinic acid, is under development as an anti-HIV drug; however, moronic acid has shown better antiviral profiles "in vitro" than bevirimat. A particular moronic acid derivative showed potent anti-HIV activity with EC values of 0.0085 μM against NL4-3, 0.021 μM against PI-R (a multiple protease inhibitor resistant strain), and 0.13 μM against FHR-2 (an HIV strain