Friedrich °Âö³ó±ô±ðr (1800
- 1882) carried out several reactions that resulted in the
production of Urea [ (NH2)2CO
], an organic component of urine that is the chief means of
elimination of nitrogenous waste in mammals. Wöhler had previously
investigated the inorganic properties of various elements,
and was one those who introduced the idea that combinations of
elements (molecules) could behave as single entities in
chemical reactions.
One such reaction used Lead
Cyanate and Ammonia in aqueous solution:
With added heat, Ammonium
Cyanate
decomposes to Ammonia and Cyanic acid, which
in the so-called "Wöhler
Synthesis" react reversibly to produce Urea:
°Âö³ó±ô±ðr's 1828 synthesis has
historically been presented as the beginning of Organic Chemistry,
as the first in vitro synthesis of a carbon-based
chemical compound otherwise produced only in vivo by
living systems. Alternatively, "The °Âö³ó±ô±ðr Myth"
suggests instead this discovery was more or less accidental, and
that he did not set out deliberately to make an organic
synthesis to disprove vitalism, a notion championed by
his own teacher, (1779 - 1848).
°Âö³ó±ô±ðr
wrote Berzelius, ""I
cannot, so to say, hold my chemical water and must tell you
that I can make urea without thereby needing to have kidneys,
or anyhow, an animal, be it human or dog""
