Raffaele Piria

Raffaele Piria

Raffaele Piria (Scilla 20 August 1814 – Turin 18 July 1865) was an Italian chemist from Scilla, who lived in Palmi. He converted the substance Salicin into a sugar and a second component, which on oxidation becomes salicylic acid, a major component of the analgesic drug Aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid).[1] Other reactions discovered by Piria were the conversion of aspartic acid to malic acid by action of nitrogen dioxide,[2] and the reaction of aromatic nitro compounds with sulfite towards aminosulfonic acids.[3]

References

1. Nicolaou, K. C.; Tamsyn Montagnon (2008). Molecules that changed the world: A Brief History of the Art and Science of Synthesis and its Impact Society. Weinheim: Wiley VCH. p. 23. ISBN 978-3-527-30983-2. Retrieved 24 May 2010.
2. Piria, Raffaele (1848). "Recherches sur la constitution chimique de l'asparagine et de l'acide aspartique". Annales de chimie et de physique. 22: 160–179.
3. Piria, Raffaele (1851). "Über einige Produkte der Einwirkung des schwefligsäuren Ammoniaks auf Nitronaphtalin". Annalen der Chemie und Pharmacie. 78: 31–68. doi:10.1002/jlac.18510780103. ISSN 0075-4617.