| Acetylsalicylic acid (ASA), a synthetic derivative of salicylic acid, is known as a commonly used pharmaceutical agent for over one hundred years. The primary use of salicylic acid refers to the Sumerians, who discovered the analgesic property of the willow plant for the first time. After a long time, around 4000 BC, the analgesic and antipyretic effects of the willow’s leavewere also well-known among the Assyrians and the Egyptians.1Moreover, around 1300-1500 BC, some therapeutic effects of the willow and myrtle extractions, were found by Egyptians, to use for colic, gout, and earache treatments. In 1824, the bioactive components of willow bark were completely extracted by two Italian pharmacists, and four years later, the main component of willow, salicin, was isolated. Following the successful extraction of the salicylic acid, in 1853, Frédéric Gerhardt was the first person exposed the acetyl chloride with sodium salicylate to synthesize ASA |