Did you know..from aspirin to heroin
Friedrich Bayer was born in 1825, the only son in a family of six children. His father was a weaver and dyer, and Bayer followed in his footsteps. In 1848, he opened his own dye business, which became very successful. In the past, all dyes had come from organic materials, but in 1856 coal tar dyes were discovered. Bayer and Friedrich Weskott, a master dyer, saw great potential in coal tar, and in 1863 they formed Friedrich Bayer et Compagnie to manufacture the dyes.
Bayer died on May 6, 1880, while the company was still in the fabric dye business. The company went on to employ chemists to come up with innovative dyes and products and in 1897 that’s exactly what one of the chemists, Felix Hoffmann, did. While experimenting with a waste product of one of the dye components to find relief for his father’s rheumatism, Hoffmann chemically synthesised a stable form of salicylic acid powder. The compound became the active ingredient in a pharmaceutical wonder product: Aspirin. The title was named “a” from acetyl, and “spir” from the spirea plant, meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria, also known as Spiraea ulmaria), the source of salicin.
Although it relieved pain, the willow bark extract, salicylic acid, caused severe stomach and mouth irritation. Hoffmann’s breakthrough came on 10 August 1897 when he produced the first 100% chemically pure form of acetylsalicylic acid, thus without the free salicylic acid. On 6 March 1899, Bayer registered Aspirin as a trademark.
Aspirin was Hoffmann’s most remarkable, but not his only success. A few days after he succeeded in synthesising acetylsalicylic acid, he manufactured another compound for which the Bayer company had high hopes, but today finds dubious popularity: diacetylmorphine, or heroin.