Question

1. Is acetyl salicylic acid able to go from aqueous to organic solution under acidic conditions? What about basic conditions?

Expain

2. is apririn more likely to pass through the hydrophilic cell membrane in the stomach or in the small intestine?

Provide a reason

Thank You

Will rate

Answer 1

1,Acetylsalicylic acid, Aspirin, is an organic acid; therefore, it is soluble in an organic solvent (diethyl ether), but will react with a basic reagent (:B) such as sodium hydroxide or sodium bicarbonate to produce the conjugate base of the acid. The conjugate base is a salt and is water soluble; therefore, it is removed from the organic solvent layer. Reacidification of this basic aqueous layer will regenerate the organic acid, which will precipitate from the aqueous solution due to the acid's limited solubility in water.

2,Aspirin is an acid with a pKa of 3.0. It is almost wholly ionized at physiological pH,although in the highly acidic environment of the stomach it is essentially unionized,which therefore increases its rate of absorption. However, because of the limited surface area within the stomach more is absorbed in the small intestine

.Aspirin is only slightly soluble in water and acidic solutions such as is present in the stomach. Aspirin contains polar functional groups which can form hydrogen bonds with polar water molecules.
Aspirin is more soluble in basic (alkaline) solutions, so it readily dissolves in the duodenum which is the first part of the intestine.