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

Acetylsalicylic acid. The name hides its parent: once swallowed, the body strips the drug back down to salicylic acid, the harsher old remedy it was b...

Q 02/05

Which tree's bark contains salicin, the natural compound that set chemists on the road to aspirin?

A) Cinchona

B) Willow

C) Oak

D) Birch

Answer · why

B) Willow

Willow. Salicin carries the tree's name, from salix, the Latin for willow; a Munich professor drew the bitter compound out of the bark in 1828.

Q 03/05

Rasputin's healing fame may rest on keeping aspirin, then a new cure-all, away from a royal heir with which condition?

A) Haemophilia

B) Leukaemia

C) Tuberculosis

D) Scurvy

Answer · why

A) Haemophilia

Haemophilia. Aspirin thins the blood, a side effect unknown at the time, so by insisting the court's remedies be kept away Rasputin may have removed t...

Q 04/05

Which profession supplied all 22,000 volunteers for the landmark 1980s American trial of aspirin against heart attacks?

A) Pilots

B) Teachers

C) Doctors

D) Soldiers

Answer · why

C) Doctors

Doctors. The Physicians' Health Study gave half of them aspirin every other day, and that arm was stopped ahead of schedule: those taking it were havi...

Q 05/05

Which German chemist is officially credited with first making aspirin in a pure, stable form in 1897?

A) Felix Hoffmann

B) Carl Duisberg

C) Paul Ehrlich

D) Fritz Haber

Answer · why

A) Felix Hoffmann

Felix Hoffmann. A former colleague later insisted Hoffmann had merely carried out his instructions without knowing their purpose, and who deserves the...