Making of Aspirin

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Introduction The objective of this experiment was to synthesize Acetylsalicylic acid. Acetylsalicylic acid is commonly known as Aspirin. Aspirin is a common over the counter drug found in everyday households. Aspirin is used to treat fevers, arthritis, and inflammation from sores and injuries. Aspirin has also been known to reduce the risk of heart attacks. The ester functional group is very important in this synthesis. Primarily this experiment focused different methods to synthesizing such functional group. These synthesis methods are commonly grouped up into a name called esterification. Three methods were discussed and proposed for the experiment. The use of acyl chloride is a method and also the use of acetic anhydride. The method used in this experiment is known as Fischer Esterification. The before methods are much more expensive which is way it is shunned away in organic chemistry unless the reagents need to be used for other reasons beyond the scope of this paper. The Fischer esterification works just as fine and is cheaper so why not. Mechanism for Acetylsalicylic acid Overall Reaction [pic] Complete Mechanism (HA- was substituted for H3PO4 to simply the mechanism) [pic] Side Reaction [pic] Experimental [pic] Table of Chemicals Salicylic Acid [pic] Mp: 159 Mm: 138.121 g/mol Mf: C7H603 Appearance: colorless to white crystals Hazards: eye and skin irritant Acetic Anhydride [pic] Mp: -73.1 Mm: 102.09 g/mol Mf: C4H603 Appearance: colorless liquid Hazard: corrosive Acetylsalicylic Acid [pic] Mp: 136 Mm: 180.157 g/mol Mf: C9H804 Appearance: white crystals Hazards: combustile powder if dispersed in the air. Phosphoric Acid [pic] Mp: 42.35 Mm: 98 g/mol Mf: H3PO4 Appearance: white solid or colorless Hazards: possibly corrosive Results Acetylsalicylic acid Mp: 95-105 Color of crystals:
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