Wöhler synthesis of urea
Síntesis de la urea a partir de cianato de amonio
- Date
- 1828 · confidence high
- Place
- Berlin, Prussia
- Credited to
- Friedrich Wöhler
- People
- 👤 Friedrich Wöhler1800–1882
- Field
- Matter & energy
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What was discovered
Wöhler obtains urea, a product of animal metabolism, from an inorganic salt without the intervention of living organisms. Traditionally considered the start of synthetic organic chemistry and the decisive blow to vitalism.
Vitalism did not disappear immediately; historians qualify the experiment's 'foundational' role.
What it led to
- Synthetic organic chemistry
- Pharmaceutical and dye industry
- Biochemistry
Built on
- Organic combustion analysis (Liebig's Kaliapparat)1831
- Liebig's organic analysis
- cyanate chemistry
Made possible
- synthesis of acetic acid (Kolbe, 1845)
- urea fertilisers