Definition of the topic Aspirin was invented at the end of 1890. More than a hundred years later, thanks to its anti-fever and anti-inflammatory effects, it has become one of the most used medicines in the world . Interestingly, this famous medicine, in the beginning, was invented by a German scientist to find an effective remedy to cure his father's pain.HistoryInnovated by the fact that the ancients used willow bark to relieve pain, the first chemically pure and stable Acetylsalicylic acid was synthesized by a German chemist called Felix Hoffmann, in 1897 (Bayer AG, 2011). His father initially took aspirin to reduce pain from arthritis. Aspirin successfully relieved the pain. After two years of laboratory experiments, aspirin as a product was first launched by Bayer AG in 1899 (Bayer AG, 2011). The impending world war accidentally increased the demand for aspirin. Scientific organizationThe invention of aspirin, a medical breakthrough, mainly belongs to the knowledge of chemistry. To study the actual functioning of aspirin and its possible side effects, pharmacological knowledge is also necessary. Knowledge In terms of production, aspirin can be produced manually or industrially. Aspirin, also known to chemists as acetylsalicylic acid, can be obtained from willow bark. To produce aspirin industrially, phenol, sodium hydroxide, carbon dioxide and acid are needed. First, phenol is mixed with concentrated sodium hydroxide to obtain sodium phenoxide. Then, reacted with carbon dioxide, sodium salicylate is generated. Subsequently, in an acidic solvent, the sodium ions are replaced by H+ ions. This is how salicylic acid is produced. To make hard aspirin tablets, you need to add cornstarch and water to salicylic acid. Finally, the chemical mixture is compressed into tablets via compressed machines. In the 100 years after aspirin was born, although people appreciated its pain-relieving function, no one knew how aspirin actually works until the late 1990s. In the 1970s, scientists discovered that it is the release of prostaglandins, hormone-like molecules, after injuries that causes fever and inflammation. The analysis of PGHS (prostaglandin H2 synthase), the enzyme that produces prostaglandin, finally reveals the process of how aspirin works. The enzyme is surrounded by 2 protein subunits, arachidonic acid, a basic component of prostaglandin, travels through the channel between the two protein subunits to the core of the PGHS enzyme. The aspirin molecule splits into two, saliucyl acid and acetyl group, after entering the channel of the PGHS enzyme. Since the acetyl group blocks the entrance of the channel, arachidonic acid cannot access the core of the PGHS enzyme, thus stopping the production of prostaglandin.