Aspirin Comes from Willow Tree Bark

The medicinal properties of willow bark have been recognized for millennia, with historical records indicating its use by ancient civilizations like the Sumerians and Egyptians over 3,500 years ago. The Greek physician Hippocrates, around 400 BC, prescribed willow leaf tea to alleviate the pains of childbirth, and various ancient cultures utilized it to reduce fever and inflammation. This natural remedy's effectiveness is due to a compound called salicin, which is the active ingredient responsible for dulling pain. The long-standing use of willow bark laid the groundwork for one of modern medicine's most common drugs.

The journey from tree bark to a pill bottle accelerated in the 19th century. In the 1820s, European scientists successfully extracted salicin from willow and later converted it into the more potent salicylic acid. While effective, this synthetic version proved to be harsh on the stomach, causing significant irritation. The challenge then became to modify the acid to retain its therapeutic benefits without the unpleasant side effects, a problem that would be solved at the dawn of the 20th century.

The breakthrough came in 1897 from a chemist at the German company Bayer named Felix Hoffmann. He developed a method to create a pure and stable form of acetylsalicylic acid, a modified version that was easier on the stomach. Legend says Hoffmann was motivated to find a better pain reliever for his father's rheumatism. Bayer began marketing this new product under the name Aspirin in 1899 (Review), a name derived from "A" for acetyl and "spirin" from the Spiraea plant, another source of salicin. In a fascinating historical footnote, during the same two-week period, Hoffmann also synthesized heroin.