Reacting salicylic acid with acetyl chloride would give you aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid), but would yield hydrogen chloride gas as a by-product It is possible to produce aspirin by reacting salicylic acid with acetic acid. This reaction is done in the presence of an acid catalyst and produces an ester.Synonyms: Acetic oxide; Acetyl oxide; Ethanoic anhydride; Acetic acid anhydride. Company Identification: Fisher Scientific 1 Reagent Lane Fair Lawn, NJ 07410 For information, call: 201-796-7100 Emergency Number: 201-796-7100 For CHEMTREC assistance, call: 800-424-9300 For International CHEMTREC assistance, call: 703-527-3887 Salicylic acid reacts with acetic anhydride to form aspirin, acetylsalicylic acid. If the percent yield in this reaction is 78.5%, what mass of salicylic - 18465091 Reaction of salicylic acid with acetic anhydride To prepare the reaction, I added 2.005g of salicylic acid to a 125mL Erlenmeyer flask, along with 5.0mL of acetic anhydride and five drops of concentrated sulfuric acid. The contents of the flask were swirled until the solid dissolved completely.