Wöhler synthesis

This Wöhler synthesis is considered the starting point of modern organic chemistry.

Modern organic chemistry starts with the Wöhler synthesis in 1828.

The Wöhler synthesis is the conversion of ammonium cyanate into urea.

The Wöhler synthesis is of great historical significance because for the first time an organic compound was produced from inorganic reactants.

Wöhler is regarded as a pioneer in organic chemistry as a result of his (accidentally) synthesizing urea in the Wöhler synthesis in 1828.

As late as the 1840s, and despite Wöhler synthesis in 1828, some chemists still believed in the doctrine of vitalism, according to which a special life-force was necessary to create organic compounds.

The discovery of the artificial synthesis of urea contributed greatly to the theory of isomerism, as the empirical chemical formulas for urea and ammonium cyanate are identical (see Wöhler synthesis).

In 1828 Friedrich Wöhler first manufactured the organic chemical urea (carbamide), a constituent of urine, from the inorganic Cyanate NH4OCN, in what is now called the Wöhler synthesis.