Rocketman64
Member
This is not the info I was looking for but it's a brief description of how aspirin is made and points to the fact that aspirin is not exactly the same as salicylic acid. This was lifted from a .com site so take it for what it's worth:
Written By:
Sayer Ji
"...
<B>While salicylic acid is found naturally in plants as salicylates, acetyl-salicylic acid does not exist in nature, is not formed as byproduct of natural salicylate consumption,[3] and is produced only through industrial synthesis. For example, this is one method of synthesis:
Written By:
Sayer Ji
"...
<B>While salicylic acid is found naturally in plants as salicylates, acetyl-salicylic acid does not exist in nature, is not formed as byproduct of natural salicylate consumption,[3] and is produced only through industrial synthesis. For example, this is one method of synthesis:
Acetylsalicylic acid is prepared by reacting acetic anhydride with salicylic acid at a temperature of <90 deg C either in a solvent (e.g., acetic acid or aromatic, acyclic, or chlorinated hydrocarbons) or by the addition of catalysts such as acids or tertiary amines."
</B>