PRODUCTION AND CHEMICAL QUALITY ASSESSMENT OF ASPIRIN

CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1     BACKGROUND OF STUDY
Aspirin can be defined as an analgesic drug made from a willow barks as a fever fighter.  The leaves and the bark of the willow tree contain a substance known as Salicin.  Salicin is a naturally occurring compound similar to acetyl salicylic acid.  Aspirin, (Edward Stone, 1996). In the laboratory, one can synthesis aspirin a derivative of salicylic acid.  It is antipyretic because it lowers the body temperature of a person that has fever.  The compound has little effect if the body temperature is normal.  Salicylates are mild analgesic that relieves pains associated with headaches, (Neuralgia – a pain that is felt along a nerve usually in the head or face) and rheumatism (a disease that makes the muscles and joints painful, stiff and swallowed, (Oxford Dictionary, 6th edition). Aspirin for more than hundred years now has been used as a pain reliever for many diseases.  Americans consumed over 20 billion tablets a year.  The most commonly salicylic used in medicine today is aspirin.  In this research work, aspirin was prepared from Salicylic acid and acetic anhydride.
1.2     STATEMENT OF PROBLEMS
There are several problems facing the nation today in drug production, this problems motivated us to embark on this work.  In the society today, faking and adulteration of drugs have increased in a high rate that production of some drugs like aspirin has become doubtful of its importance to people. Even the most standard industries among them face doubts by people because of the problem caused by the lower standard industries.  Also the use of substandard raw materials and the importation of aspirin by some pharmacists are doubtful.  All these are the problem facing the nation today in aspirin production.  
1.3              AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
The aim of embarking on this study is to know how aspirin a derivative of salicylic acid can be produced in the laboratory.  And how it can be produced in a high quality that can be used in Pharmaceutical preparations. 
1.4              LIMITATION
This work on aspirin production was only limited to the laboratory method of preparation of aspirin and for the time constraint, there are some areas that was supposed to be covered, but because of time, it was limited. It was also limited to money constraints, some research procedure and techniques different from the one that was used here, were not followed because it was very costlier than the one used.  
1.5     HYPOTHESIS
There are different opinion about aspirin and its function in the pharmaceutical industries.  Some people were of the opinion that pharmaceutical industries do not use aspirin as the common salicylate in the production of other drugs, while others are saying that it can be used in other to produce a proper analgesic drug that can be approved by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency.  As a result of these ideas, two types of hypothesis were employed to facilitate the research work, such as blow: