I am doing a synthesis of aspirin, from salicylic acid and acetic anhydride, to form acetylsalicylic acid, and I was wondering if there was any way to substitute the Acetic Anhydride required in the reaction for something else, as I do not have any available to me. The reaction is as follows:

C7H6O3 + C4H6O3 (Acetic Anhydride) --> C9H8O4 (Aspirin) + C2H4O2 (Acetic Acid)

Well, acetyl chloride could be used, but I expect you don't have that either. Also as this is a typical A level prep and your knowledge of chemistry seems limited, the use of acetyl chloride is far more risky than acetic anhydride

The problem with this prep is that the phenolic oxygen lone pair is not very nucleophilic so the usual ester prep from the alcohol and carboxylic acid will not work.

Yeah, no acetyly chloride either This prep has been shown to work, it's a lot of work, but yeah, it does work. Thanks for the heads up