Synthesis of Acetylsalicylic Acid – An Environmentally Friendly Approach

Abstract

Background: The aim of this study was to compare the yields of acetylsalicylic acid synthesis based on the traditional approach and green chemistry approach. Green chemistry is one of the most important approaches in pharmaceutical sustainability. The reagents used for the acetylsalicylic acid synthesis can be environmentally harmful, so there is a need for a better and safer alternative. Methods: We conducted five syntheses based on the traditional approach and five syntheses based on the green chemistry approach. The synthesis process was identical except for one part – traditional synthesis used sulfuric acid and green chemistry synthesis used phosphoric acid. After synthesis, theoretical and experimental yields were calculated. The obtained products were tested using high performance liquid chromatography.Main findings: The theoretical yield of acetylsalicylic acid in both reactions was determined as 3.896 g. Traditional synthesis gave us a mean yield of 3.113 g (79.8%). Green chemistry synthesis gave us a mean yield of 3.104 g (79.4%). The quality of both products was confirmed by the above-mentioned chromatography method. There was no statistically significant difference between the means of the product masses (p=0.8220).Principal conclusions: Phosphoric acid can be used as a safe alternative to acetylsalicylic acid synthesis instead of sulfuric acid. As phosphoric acid is much safer than sulfuric acid in terms of environmental impact, these findings can be used in the pharmaceutical industry setting to obtain a better, cleaner and safer alternative to acetylsalicylic acid synthesis.Key words: acetylsalicylic acid, synthesis, green chemistry, medicinal chemistryArticle processing history:Received July 19, 2023 Revised November 7, 2023 Accepted November 21 , 2023 ORCID IDs of the authors: L.G. 0009-0005-9137-6218M.K. 0000-0003-3904-4994Corresponding author:Assistant Professor Martin Kondža, PhD; Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Mostar, Matice hrvatske bb, 88000Mostar, Bosnia and HerzegovinaE‒mail: martin.kondza@farf.sum.baCite this article as: Golemac L, KondžaM. Synthesis of acetylsalicylic acid –an environmentally friendly approach. Annals of Biomedical and Clinical Research. 2023;2:100 -108 . https://doi.org/Copyright © School of Medicine, University of Mostar 2023