Q 01/05

Aspirin is the genericised trademark for which chemical compound?

A) Acetylsalicylic acid

B) Acetaminophen

C) Ibuprofen sodium

D) Sodium salicylate

Answer · why

A) Acetylsalicylic acid

It is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug that also suppresses platelet function.

Q 02/05

Which tree's bark contains salicin, an aspirin precursor used for at least 2,400 years?

A) Cinchona

B) Willow

C) Oak

D) Birch

Answer · why

B) Willow

Salicin is metabolised in the gut into salicylic acid.

Q 03/05

Which chemist first made aspirin's active compound in 1853?

A) Felix Hoffmann

B) Charles Frédéric Gerhardt

C) Justus von Liebig

D) Louis Pasteur

Answer · why

B) Charles Frédéric Gerhardt

It took another 50 years, mostly at Bayer, to establish the structure and make it in a pure, stable form.

Q 04/05

Which German company named and launched Aspirin in 1899?

A) Merck

B) Bayer

C) BASF

D) Hoechst

Answer · why

B) Bayer

It was then a dye and drug firm; its cross logo followed in 1904.

Q 05/05

Which Bayer chemist is officially credited with first making the drug in a pure, stable form in 1897?

A) Felix Hoffmann

B) Carl Duisberg

C) Paul Ehrlich

D) Heinrich Dreser

Answer · why

A) Felix Hoffmann

His colleague Arthur Eichengrün later claimed Hoffmann had merely followed his research plan.