Forget the Willow Bark Extract — Go For Aspirin
Contrary to popular belief, aspirin does not occur in nature, it is not found in the willow tree. But there is a connection. Aspirin, or acetyl salicylic acid, was first produced commercially by the Bayer Company based on a synthesis by Felix Hoffmann, a chemist working in 1897 for the Bayer company in Germany. While Hoffmann did indeed synthesize the first commercial sample of acetylsalicylic acid, he certainly was not the first to produce the substance in the laboratory. That honor goes to Karl Friedrich Gerhardt, who in 1853 at Montpelier University in France made an impure version with an ...
Source: mcgill.ca