Manufacture of Aspirin
Manufacture of Aspirin
- Acylation reactions have many uses, such as in the pharmaceutical and textile industries for making drugs, e.g. aspirin, and textiles, e.g. cellulose acetate
- In the industrial manufacture of aspirin, salicylic acid and ethanoic anhydride are reacted together in an acylation reaction to form aspirin and ethanoic acid
Equation showing the manufacture of aspirin
- The reaction of acyl chlorides with water or alcohols produces carboxylic acid and esters respectively
- However it is normally a fast, exothermic process with a rapid production of highly corrosive hydrogen chloride gas
- In general, acid anhydrides are preferred over acyl chlorides in the production of aspirin because they are also cheaper to produce, less reactive and the reactions can be more easily controlled
- For acid anhydrides, the by-product is the less corrosive carboxylic acid compared to hydrogen chloride for acyl chlorides
