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'
Erucic acid surfactants or lubricants, and can be used as a precursor to biodiesel fuel. Derivatives of erucic acid have many further uses, such as behenyl alcohol (CH(CH)OH), a pour point depressant (enabling liquids to flow at a lower temperature), and silver behenate, for use in photography. The name 'erucic' means: of or pertaining to "Eruca"; which is a genus of flowering plants in the family Brassicaceae. It is also the Latin for colewort, which today is better known as arugula. Erucic acid is produced naturally (together with other fatty acids) across a great range of green plants, but especially so in