Isomerism
Isomería (misma fórmula, distintas propiedades)
- Date
- 1825-1830 · confidence high
- Place
- Stockholm (Berzelius); Giessen (Liebig); Berlin (Wöhler)
- Credited to
- Berzelius (term), building on Liebig and Wöhler (silver cyanate/fulminate) and Faraday
- People
- 👤 Friedrich Wöhler1800–1882👤 Jöns Jacob Berzelius1779–1848👤 Michael Faraday1791–1867
- Field
- Matter & energy
What was discovered
Substances with identical composition can have different properties, implying that the arrangement of atoms matters. It was the seed of structural theory.
Liebig and Wöhler found the same analysis for silver fulminate and cyanate in 1823-24; Berzelius coined 'isomerism' in 1830.
What it led to
- Organic structural theory
- Stereochemistry
- Polymer chemistry
Built on
Made possible
- Radical theory and type theory1837-1853
- identification of compounds by structure