Arthur Eichengrün the invention of aspirin in 1897. Impure acetylsalicylic acid (ASA, the active compound of aspirin) had been synthesized already in 1853 by French chemist Charles Frédéric Gerhardt; the 1897 process developed at Bayer was the first to produce pure ASA that could be used for medical purposes. Due to the rise of the Nazis in Germany, Eichengrün was unable to object when Hoffman first made the claim that "he" (Hoffman) invented aspirin, in the footnote of a 1934 German Encyclopedia. Hoffman's claim was once widely accepted, but many historians now consider it to be discredited. Eichengrün first claimed to have
Tetrolic acid Tetrolic acid Tetrolic acid (2-butynoic acid) is a short-chain unsaturated carboxylic acid, described by the formula CH-C≡C-COH. Salts and esters of tetrolic acid are known as tetrolates. The first reported synthesis of tetrolic acid is believed to be by German chemist Johann Georg Anton Geuther in 1871 as part of his work investigating the derivatives of ethyl acetoacetate. Tetrolic acid is manufactured on a commercial scale by treatment of propyne with a strong base (to form an acetylide), followed by carbon dioxide: Strong bases such as "n"-BuLi and NaNH can be used. Tetrolic acid is highly soluble in polar solvents