r/EverythingScience • u/WilliamBlack97AI • Jul 08 '23
Medicine Scientists make common pain killers from pine trees instead of crude oil
https://www.bath.ac.uk/announcements/scientists-make-common-pain-killers-from-pine-trees-instead-of-crude-oil/6
u/Free_Return_2358 Jul 08 '23
Native Americans who already did…
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u/carlos_6m MD Jul 08 '23
Youre getting confused with aspirin, which comes from willow bark, which was used by native American but also much earlier, it wad already used in ancient Egypt and in the middle ages it was a staple medication... Ibuprofen was invented in the 60s and paracetamol by the end of the 1800s
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Jul 08 '23
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u/carlos_6m MD Jul 09 '23
You can get salicilic acid from willow bark, and turn it into ASA, this is how aspirin was discovered, thats what i was meaning
Its not produced from willow bark because its a massively inefficient process compared to using benzene
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u/darnitdame Jul 08 '23
Who thought to make painkillers out of crude oil to begin with? Why would anyone do that?
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u/carlos_6m MD Jul 08 '23
Because it makes the most sense. You get benzene, then oxidate, nitrate and add vinegar and you get paracetamol...
Benzene is dirt cheap and can be distilled to an incredible degree of purity, allowing you to make a drug with a ridiculously low cost and very high purity...
And if it scares you that the starting product is benzene, i have to tell you that with pine resin they would start with turpentine... Barely a difference...
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Jul 08 '23
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u/destronger Jul 09 '23
a lot of those items could be condensed to just plastic and the list would be smaller.
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u/9ninjas Jul 08 '23
We use crude oil to create pain killers!?