Raffaele Piria
From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Raffaele Piria (20 August 1814 – 18 July 1865), an Italian chemist from Scilla, lived in Palmi, who 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]