History of aspirin History of aspirin The history of aspirin (IUPAC name acetylsalicylic acid ) begins with its synthesis and manufacture in 1899. Before that, salicylic acid had been used medicinally since antiquity. Medicines made from willow and other salicylate-rich plants appear in clay tablets from ancient Sumer as well as the Ebers Papyrus from ancient Egypt. Hippocrates referred to their use of salicylic tea to reduce fevers around 400 BC, and were part of the pharmacopoeia of Western medicine in classical antiquity and the Middle Ages. Willow bark extract became recognized for its specific effects on fever, pain and inflammation in the
3-Methylbutanoic acid dioxide and sometimes sorbic acid, by mixing in alcoholic spirit to give a fortified wine of sufficient strength to kill all yeast and bacteria, or by pasteurization. Isovaleric acid can also be found in beer, and, excepting some English–style ales, is usually considered a flaw. It can be produced by the oxidation of hop resins, or by "Brettanomyces" yeasts present. Isovaleric acid has been used to synthesize β-hydroxyisovaleric acid – otherwise known as β-hydroxy β-methylbutyric acid – via microbial oxidation by the fungus "Galactomyces reessii". 3-Methylbutanoic acid 3-Methylbutanoic acid, also known as β-methylbutyric acid or more commonly isovaleric acid, is