The Origins of Organic Chemistry

Urea had always come from living organisms and was presumed to contain the vital force, yet ammonium cyanate is inorganic and thus lacks the vital force. Some chemists claimed that a trace of vital force from Wohler s hands must have contaminated the reaction, but most recognized the possibility of synthesizing organic compounds from inorganics. Many other syntheses were carried out, and the vital force theory was eventually discarded. 

Since Vitalism was disproved in the early nineteenth century, you d think it would be extinct by now. And you d be wrong Vitalism lives on today in the minds of those who believe that natural (plant-derived) vitamins, flavor compounds, etc. are somehow different and more healthful than the identical artificial (synthesized) compounds. 

The Jarvik 7 artificial heart, composed largely of synthetic organic materials. 

One of nicotine s effects is to increase the concentration of dopamine, a chemicai in the brain s reward system. Release of this chemical makes smokers feel good and reinforces the need to smoke. 

As chemists, we know that plant-derived compounds and the synthesized compounds are identical. Assuming they are pure, the only way to tell them apart is through dating Compounds synthesized from petrochemicals have a lower content of radioactive and appear old because their has decayed over time. Plant-derived compounds are recently synthesized from CO2 in the air. They have a higher content of radioactive C. Some large chemical suppliers provide isotope ratio analyses to show that their naturals have high content and are plant-derived. Such a sophisticated analysis lends a high-tech flavor to this twenty-first-century form of Vitalism. 

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From the origin of organic chemistry it was recognized that oils are complex mixtures of numerous products that are structurally related this fact, in addition to the experimental diflBculty in resolving such mixtures, is undoubtedly the reason why the chemistry of fatty materials has been for decades mainly qualitative and based on average values. The extraordinary current advances in our knowledge of fats, in all fields involving them, are exclusively due to the possi-... 

Figures 1-3 and Tables 1-3 were originally published in the indicated volumes of the Journal of Organic Chemistry. The American Chemical Society has kindly granted permission for reproduction. The author is indebted to Professor H. Wynberg and Professor D. J. Gerritsen for encouragement to write this chapter.

Stefano Cicchi was born in 1963. In 1989, he obtained his Doctor in Chemistry from the University of Florence, in 1992 Ph.D. in chemistry from the same university, and in 1993, he became a CNR Fellow. From 1996 to date, he has been with the Department of Organic Chemistry, Ricercatore Universitario, University of Florence. He is a member of the Italian Chemical Society and INSTM (Consorzio Interuniversitario Nazionale Scienza e Tecnica dei Materiali). He has authored 70 original articles and reviews, and has been invited for research at the University of Saragozza (Prof. Pedro Merino). He has been a referee of organic chemistry journals. 

Translated from the German by Gerhart Schwab, with the assistance of Edward W. Koos, Dr. J. M. Harkin, and the editors. The frontispiece is from a hitherto unpublished portrait, the original of which is to be found in the Institute of Organic Chemistry of the University of Erlangen, Germany. 

The International Union and the Definitive Report. The next important step vias the Definitive Report of the Commission on the Reform of the Nomenclature of Organic Chemistry in 1930 at a meeting in LiSge. This report used the Geneva rules as a basis for modification, and many of the 68 Liege rules deal with topics not touched in die original Geneva report. 

Quantitative structure-activity relationship studies are of great importance in modern chemistry. From their origin in the study of organic chemistry dating back to the 19th century, these studies have relied on some empirical and qualitative rules about the reactivity similarities of compounds with similar structures. The most significant development in QSARs occurred with the work of Louis Hammett (1894-1987), who correlated some electronic properties of organic acids and bases with their equilibrium constants and reactivity (Johnson, 1973). Hammett postulated that the effect... 

The first question we might ask is What is organic chemistry, and how did it become a separate branch of chemistry A brief survey of the history of organic chemistry will help us understand how the division of chemicals into organic and inorganic originated and why this division persists today. 

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