Science Fact Finder | Chemistry and Physics - Who Made The First Organic Compound To Be Synthesized From Inorganic Ingredients?

Who made the first organic compound to be synthesized from inorganic ingredients?

German chemist (a scientist specializing in the composition, properties, and reactions of matter) Friedrich Wohler (1800-1882), in 1828, synthesized (artificially made) urea from ammonia and cyanic acid. Urea is a by-product of protein metabolism (breakdown), which is excreted in the urine of many mammals. The laboratory production of urea defied the vital-force theory, which held that substances derived from living beings could not be copied using inorganic (nonliving) compounds.

Swedish chemist and vital-force theory proponent Jons Jakob Berzelius (1779-1848) had proposed that organic compounds and inorganic compounds were produced by entirely different processes. He believed that organic compounds were formed under the influence of a "vital force" and, for that reason, were incapable of being prepared...

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