Posts Tagged ‘Salicin’

July 20th, 2015 by Dr. Hannah Sivak

From: Otto Wilhelm Thomé Flora von Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz 1885, Gera, Germany   More than one thousand years ago, humans in different continents discovered that the leaves and bark of the willow tree could alleviate aches and fevers. With the advent of modern chemistry, in 1828, salicin, the major salicylate in willow bark, was isolated by Johann Buchner. A few decades later, industrial production of synthetic acetylsalicylic acid, trade name Aspirin, was introduced in Germany by Bayer. In skin care, we use two chemicals of this family: salicin and salicylic acid. Salicylic acid belongs to a diverse group of plant phenolics, compounds with an aromatic ring bearing a…