Aspirin Works: The Aspirin Wars and the Phenol Plot Excerpt

  The phenol plot began in 1915. Phenol is a by-product of coal tar, also known as hydroxybenzene or...

  This name is not quite accurate - carbonic acid, which people use as a disinfectant and antiseptic. It is also used to make dyes, perfumes, flavorings, photographic chemicals, and explosives - particularly one called picric acid.

  An important component of salicylic acid (it is ethyl)

  Salicylic acid—the main component of aspirin—is synthesized from phenol, most of which is imported from the United Kingdom.

  After the declaration of war, the British Parliament ordered the requisitioning of most phenol in the country for the manufacture of trinitrophenol. The amount of phenol shipped to America was drastically reduced. The law of supply and demand took effect, causing the price of phenol to skyrocket.

  In August at 10 cents a pound, it rose to $1.25 by the following February. Although Rensselaer did not directly benefit

  It used phenol, but this chemical was also indispensable to it, because Bayer manufactured aspirin with salicylic acid, and salicylic acid was made by other American companies from phenol. By April 1915, Bayer's aspirin plant had almost come to a standstill, which was a disaster for a company that wanted to sell its newly produced tablets everywhere. Worse still, other companies took advantage of the shortage to use acetylsalicylic acid

  Manufacture of fake aspirin with other chemicals. The news that real aspirin might disappear from the market spread quickly

  Pharmacies rushed to stock up in large quantities, but the ones they bought were often counterfeit. The domestic supply of phenol in the United States could not save Bayer's emergency either. The production of this chemical is almost all

  Used to manufacture trinitrophenol or had to be supplied to other companies under long-term contracts. Another person who was similarly snubbed by Bayer was the genius Thomas Edison of Menlo Park. For the production of his most famous invention,

  One of them - phonograph records, Edison needed phenol. He was a man of action, decided to produce it himself.

  He quickly built two phenol synthesis plants, each with a production capacity of six tons per day, which greatly increased the supply of spot goods. Schwetzer used Albert's propaganda funds to contract with Edison's sales agent to buy every drop of phenol that this inventor did not use himself. (This was a big deal, as Edison had an excess output of up to three tons per day.)

  In June 1915, Schweitzer met with the vice president and general manager of the American branch of the von Heyden chemical company.

  Manager George Simon. Haydn was the German company that had ruined Bayer's Aspirin patent in Britain, but it continued to supply salicylic acid to Rensselaer until phenol ran out. Schweitzer wanted Simon to buy from him the phenol he had bought from Edison, use it to manufacture salicylic acid, some of which would be used to fulfill Haydn's contract with Bayer and the rest sold back to Schweitzer, who needed

  He wants it for export business. Simon agrees.

  This agreement is beneficial to all parties. Simon's salicylic acid factory will be able to reopen, followed by Bayer's aspirin factory and its advertising campaign to rescue the aspirin market. By controlling the only major source of phenol available in the United States, Schweitzer made a lot of money (and the payment to Edison came from Albert).

  The cost of Weizs?cker is subsidized by German taxpayers. Albert is also delighted. This batch of phenol

  It was used to manufacture aspirin, not to increase the American supply of trinitrophenol. Albert claimed that in a few short months Schweitzer had diverted enough phenol to make 4.5 million pounds of explosives.

  Can accommodate three long trains.

  The scheme ended quickly. The American special services suspected Albert and sent someone to follow him.

  On July 24, Albert fell asleep on the elevated train on Sixth Avenue in Manhattan. When he arrived at his destination, he suddenly woke up and rushed off the train, leaving behind a briefcase full of secret documents. When he realized he had lost the bag and rushed back onto the train, other passengers told him that a young man had taken it.

  Even Edison was delighted, Simon said he had met with Edison in June 1915 and the inventor had said that rather than use it to make bombs

  He hoped his phenol would be used for peaceful purposes, such as medicine. "This was more in line with his feelings," Simon explains. But Edison's feelings did not translate into action. After the scandal broke, he changed his tune and sold the phenol to the U.S. military.

  The leather bag ran away. (Later Albert got a nickname called "Unappointed Envoy".)