A team of scientists, from the University of Bath's Department of Chemistry and Institute for Sustainability have found a way to create two of the world's most common painkillers, paracetamol and ibuprofen, out of a compound found in pine trees, one which is also a waste product from the paper industry.
  • outstanding_bond@mander.xyzEnglish
    5·
    1 year ago

    They successfully converted β-pinene into two everyday painkillers, paracetamol and ibuprofen, which are produced on ~100,000 ton scales annually.

    At first I couldn’t believe that we make 100,000 TONS of paracetamol (acetaminophen) a year.

    1E5 tons per year / 6E9 people on earth = 17 grams per person per year

    My tylenol pills are 500mg, and ~34 pills per year seems about right.

    Wow. At a density of 1.3 g/cm^3 that’s about half an olympic swimming pool of acetaminophen a year.

    • hughperman@mander.xyzEnglish
      2·
      1 year ago

      Nice breakdown. Maybe update your stats a little, we’re at nearly 8e9 people on the planet. Doesn’t change your conclusion much.

  • Drewsteau@lemmy.worldEnglish
    4·
    1 year ago

    As I said over on science@lemmy.ml

    This is super cool! And they were able to make another major chemical precursor too. I see the yield for ibuprofen is only 64% but I have to assume that’s there room to optimize that reaction scheme to generate higher yields!

    I would love to see the full synthesis process as well as reaction conditions, but like everyone else who leaves academia I lost access to journals after finishing my grad program.