The key difference between aspirin and salicylic acid is that salicylic acid has a bitter taste that makes it unsuitable to be used directly as a medication, whereas aspirin does not have the bitter taste that most derivatives of salicylic acid contain.
Aspirin is an important medication. It belongs to the group of salicylate derivatives. Generally, salicylic acid and its derivatives have an unpleasant bitter taste, which makes them unsuitable for direct use as medicine. However, aspirin is made into a medication by eliminating the bitter-tasting components of salicylates.
CONTENTS
1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Aspirin
3. What is Salicylic Acid
4. Aspirin vs Salicylic Acid in Tabular Form
5. Summary – Aspirin vs Salicylic Acid
What is Aspirin?
Aspirin is a medication useful in reducing pain, fever, or inflammation. It is also known as acetylsalicylic acid or ASA. There are some specific inflammation conditions where we can use aspirin for the treatment. These include Kawasaki disease, pericarditis, and rheumatic fever. We can classify aspirin as a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug or NSAID. It works similar to all other NSAIDs; in addition, it can suppress the normal functioning of platelets.
Figure 01: The Chemical Structure of Aspirin
If we use aspirin shortly after a heart attack, it can reduce the risk of death. We can also use aspirin for long-term application in order to help prevent any further heart attacks and some other diseases like ischaemic strokes and blood clots in high-risk people. Typically, the effect of the drug starts within 30 minutes after the administration.
Furthermore, aspirin is useful as an analgesic, antipyretic, and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug and has an anti-platelet effect through the inhibition of the COX activity in the platelet in order to prevent the production of the thromboxane A2 content. Thromboxane A2 can act by binding platelets together during the process of coagulation, vasoconstriction, and bronchoconstriction.
The bioavailability of aspirin is about 80-100%, while the protein ability of this drug is about 80-90%. The metabolism of this drug occurs in the liver, but some of it may get hydrolyzed to salicylates in the gut wall. The elimination half-life of this drug is about 2-3 hours, and the excretion occurs through urination, and as sweat, saliva, and feces.
There can be some side effects of aspirin, which commonly include upset stomach, stomach ulcers (rare), stomach bleeding, and worsening asthma.
What is Salicylic Acid?
Salicylic acid is an organic compound that is very important as a medication that helps to remove the outer layer of the skin. This substance appears as a colourless to white crystalline solid that is odourless. The chemical formula of this compound is C7H6O3, and its molar mass is 138.12 g/mol. The melting point of salicylic acid crystals is 158.6 °C, and it decomposes at 200 °C. These crystals can undergo sublimation at 76 °C. The IUPAC name of salicylic acid is 2-Hydroxybenzoic acid.
Salicylic acid is important as a medication in treating warts, dandruff, acne, and other skin disorders due to its ability to remove the outer layer of the skin. Therefore, salicylic acid is a major ingredient useful in manufacturing skin care products; for example, it is useful in some shampoos to treat dandruff. It is significant in manufacturing Pepto-Bismol, a medication used to treat gastrointestinal disorders. Additionally, salicylic acid is also useful as a food preservative.
What is the Difference Between Aspirin and Salicylic Acid?
Aspirin and many other derivatives of salicylic acid are useful as medicine for different diseases. The key difference between aspirin and salicylic acid is that salicylic acid has a bitter taste that makes it unsuitable to be used directly as a medication, whereas aspirin does not have the bitter taste that most derivatives of salicylic acid contain. Moreover, aspirin is used to reduce pain, fever, or inflammation, while salicylic acid is used to treat warts, dandruff, acne, and other skin disorders due to its ability to remove the outer layer of the skin.
Below is a summary of the difference between aspirin and salicylic acid in tabular form for side by side comparison.
Summary – Aspirin vs Salicylic Acid
Aspirin is a medication useful in reducing pain, fever, or inflammation. Salicylic acid is an organic compound that is very important as a medication that helps to remove the outer layer of the skin. The key difference between aspirin and salicylic acid is that salicylic acid has a bitter taste that makes it unsuitable to be used directly as a medication, whereas aspirin does not have the bitter taste that most derivatives of salicylic acid contain.
Reference:
1. “Salicylic Acid Topical: Uses, Side Effects, Interactions, Pictures, Warnings & Dosing.” WebMD.
Image Courtesy:
1. “Aspirin-skeletal” By Originally User:Benjah-bmm27 – SVG conversion of File:Aspirin-skeletal.png (Public Domain) via Commons Wikimedia