How Ibuprofen Is Made and Who Makes It

Pain Relief

Ibuprofen was discovered at Boots in Nottingham in the early 1960s and is now made from a petrochemical called isobutylbenzene in a three-step industrial process. A handful of large chemical companies in the US, India and China make most of the world’s ibuprofen powder, which brands such as Nurofen, Advil and Motrin, and generic makers, turn into tablets.

By Dr. Ema HudsonUpdated: October 20264 min read

The short answer

Discovered by pharmacologist Stewart Adams and chemist John Nicholson at Boots, UK; patented in 1961, launched as Brufen in 1969, over the counter as Nurofen in the UK in 1983 and as Advil and Motrin IB in the US in 1984.
Made today mostly by the BHC process: isobutylbenzene → acylation → hydrogenation → carbonylation, three steps with almost no waste.
Who makes it: the raw ingredient comes from large chemical producers in the US, India and China; Nurofen belongs to Reckitt, Advil to Haleon and Motrin to Kenvue.

Where did ibuprofen come from?

In the 1950s the Boots Pure Drug Company in Nottingham set out to find an alternative to aspirin and steroids for rheumatoid arthritis, one that would be safer on the stomach. Stewart Adams, a pharmacologist, and John Nicholson, a chemist, with technician Colin Burrows, screened hundreds of compounds from a family called propionic acids. One, 2-(4-isobutylphenyl)propionic acid, was patented in 1961. Adams famously tested an early dose on his own hangover headache.

The drug was launched for rheumatic diseases as Brufen in the UK in 1969 and in the US in 1974. It became available without prescription as Nurofen in the UK in 1983 and as Advil and Motrin IB in the US in 1984. It is on the World Health Organization’s Model List of Essential Medicines.

What is ibuprofen made of?

Ibuprofen is a small organic molecule (C₁₃H₁₈O₂): a benzene ring with an isobutyl group on one side and a propionic acid group on the other. It exists as two mirror-image forms. The S-form does most of the work; the body converts a large part of the R-form into the S-form, so ordinary ibuprofen is sold as the 50:50 mixture. A pure S-form (dexibuprofen) exists in some countries.

A tablet also contains inactive ingredients (excipients): starch or cellulose as fillers, binders, a disintegrant to help it break up, and a coating with colour. Fast-acting products use ibuprofen salts (lysine or sodium) or dissolve ibuprofen in a liquid gel capsule.

How ibuprofen is made step by step

The original Boots synthesis used six steps and wasted most of its raw materials. In the early 1990s the BHC Company (a joint venture of Boots and Hoechst Celanese) introduced a three-step route at a plant in Bishop, Texas, which won a US Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award in 1997.

Step	Reaction	What happens
Start	Isobutylbenzene	A petrochemical made from benzene and isobutylene
1	Friedel–Crafts acylation with acetic anhydride (hydrogen fluoride as catalyst and solvent)	Adds an acetyl group → 4-isobutylacetophenone; HF is recovered and reused
2	Hydrogenation (Raney nickel catalyst)	Turns the ketone into an alcohol
3	Carbonylation with carbon monoxide (palladium catalyst)	Adds the carboxylic acid group → ibuprofen
Finish	Crystallisation, drying, milling	Pharmaceutical-grade ibuprofen powder (the API)

The BHC route uses about 77% of its starting atoms in the final product, close to 99% when the acetic acid by-product is recovered, compared with about 40% in the Boots process. It’s a textbook example of “green chemistry”.

From powder to tablet

Tablet makers buy the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API), test it against pharmacopoeia standards, blend it with excipients, granulate and compress it into tablets, coat them and pack them in blisters. Every batch is tested for content, dissolution and purity before release.

Who makes ibuprofen?

Level	Examples
Raw ibuprofen (API) producers	BASF (Bishop, Texas, US), IOL Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals (India), Solara Active Pharma Sciences (India), Granules (India) and several Chinese producers such as Shandong Xinhua Pharmaceutical
Nurofen	Reckitt (UK)
Advil	Haleon (formerly GSK and Pfizer consumer health)
Motrin	Kenvue (formerly Johnson & Johnson consumer health)
Generics and pharmacy brands	Many companies; same active ingredient and dose standards

Because the active ingredient and the quality standards are the same, a generic 200 mg ibuprofen tablet works like a Nurofen 200 mg tablet. Brands differ in speed of absorption (for example lysine salts), shape, coating and price. How to choose and use ibuprofen safely is covered in the pain relief guide.

Frequently asked questions

Which country makes ibuprofen?

Most of the world’s ibuprofen ingredient is produced in India, China and the United States. Finished tablets are made in many countries, including the UK, Australia and across Europe, from imported or locally made ingredient.

Who makes Nurofen?

Nurofen is a brand of Reckitt (formerly Reckitt Benckiser), which acquired Boots Healthcare International in 2006.

Who makes Advil?

Advil is owned by Haleon, the consumer health company that was separated from GSK in 2022. It was previously part of Wyeth and Pfizer.

Is ibuprofen made from petroleum?

The starting material, isobutylbenzene, comes from petrochemicals. That’s true of many medicines; the final product is purified and tested to pharmaceutical standards.

More on this topic: how ibuprofen is used safely, and how it compares with paracetamol, is covered in Pain Relief Guide: Paracetamol, Ibuprofen, Aspirin and More.

Sources and further reading