Aspirin Synthesis Lab Report

Introduction Aspirin is an over-the-counter drug that is most often used to suppress fever, pain, and other soreness or ailments. It is synthesized from a variety of different acids and buffers that work in unison to make the user healthier. Some components of the drug, such as salicylic acid, are highly irritating when ingested and sometimes cause fatal side effects. In order to prevent this from occurring, an acetyl group is added in place of a hydrogen, thereby forming acetylsalicylic acid. This is also known as synthesized aspirin. Another means of creating aspirin is adding acetic anhydride rather than acetic acid and using an acid catalyst, such as sulfuric acid, to speed up the reaction. Both of these reactions yield the same products, acetyl salicylic acid.

After creating the compound acetyl salicylic acid, it will be thoroughly analyzed through a series of steps that test its melting point, purity, and solubility as compared to commercial aspirin. By solving for the melting point range of the synthesized aspirin, one can determine its purity. Then by adding 1% ferric chloride, the color of both the synthesized and commercial aspirin represents its purity. In theory, the synthesized aspirin should be relatively the same color as the commercial drug. Finally, both types of aspirin are placed into different solutions to determine their solubility properties. For all three of these analyses, the synthesized aspirin should test similar to the commercial aspirin in hopes it was created