Felix Hoffmann and the Invention of Aspirin and Heroin

German chemist Felix Hoffmann went down in history as the man who gave the world the Aspirin. The painkiller consists of acetylsalicylic acid. The effect of that substance had been known for much longer, but Hoffmann marketed it under the name Aspirin in 1899, which made it extremely popular. Until the advent of paracetamol, aspirin was the most commonly used pain reliever in the West.

Willow leaves have been used since ancient times to treat painful joints. And the Romans used the leaves of the willow tree to fight fever. At the beginning of the nineteenth century it was discovered that willow leaves contain salicylic acid. This substance is indeed good for combating pain and fever, but can also cause serious stomach disorders.

Several chemists, including Frenchman Charles Frédéric Gerhardt, tried to eliminate this negative side effect. Felix Hoffmann and his colleague Arthur Eichengrün built on the work of Gerhardt, who had combined the salicylic acid with acetyl chloride, and managed to make acetylsalicylic acid. Hoffmann, who at the time worked at the pharmaceutical company Bayer, had an extra motivation to make a good painkiller. His father suffered from arthritis. He reportedly experienced his first pain-free night in years after first taking the new drug.

Bayer introduced the drug in 1899. It became a resounding success. Initially, Aspirin was only available in powder form. Later, tablets were introduced and it became clear that Aspirin is not only good for fighting pain and fever, but can also reduce the risk of preeclampsia and heart disease.

Arthur Eichengrün

According to some, the development of Aspirin should mainly be attributed to the aforementioned Arthur Eichengrün. As head of Bayer’s chemical lab, he was Hoffman’s boss during this period. After Hoffmann’s discovery, the new drug did not initially seem to be a great success. According to Bayer’s pharmacology department, aspirin was dangerous because it could cause cardiac arrhythmias. Eichengrün then decided to make the drug on his own and sent it to a few physician friends who were then very enthusiastic about it. Shortly thereafter, Bayer had a new study conducted and the drug was widely marketed.According to some, Eichengrün did not get the credit he deserved in the decades that followed because of his Jewish background and he should be regarded as the actual inventor of the Aspirin. However, there is still no consensus on this in the scientific world.

Heroin

Less well known is that Hoffmann also developed heroin (diacetylmorphine) in 1898. Although this substance is nowadays mainly known as an addictive drug, the German made heroin to replace morphine, which was considered far too addictive. It is now clear that heroin can also be extremely addictive.

Hoffmann was not the first to develop heroin. That honor goes to the English chemist Charles Romley Alder Wright. He developed the opiate in 1874 by boiling anhydrous morphine with acetic anhydride for several hours. It was not until Hoffmann independently produced the drug twenty-three years later that it became popular with the general public. The fact that we now know the substance diacetylmorphine as ‘heroin’ is thanks to Bayer. This company tested the drug on a few employees who reported feeling ‘heroic’ after using it.

Bayer sold the drug, among other things, as a medicine against morphine addiction and also put it in cough lozenges. Although heroin was thus sold as a replacement for morphine, it became clear some time after its introduction that the drug was only a more potent variant of the addictive morphine. Heroin turned out to be converted into morphine in the liver. After this became known, the use of heroin was banned in more and more countries.