Woehler

Urea [57-13-6] was discovered ia urine by Rouelle ia 1773 and first synthesized from ammonia (qv) and cyanic acid by Woehler ia 1828. This was the first synthesis of an organic compound from an inorganic compound, and it dealt a deathblow to the vital-force theory. In 1870, urea was produced by heating ammonium carbamate ia a sealed tube. 

Criep LH, Woehler TR The heart in human anaphylaxis. Ann Allergy 1971 29 399... 

Luke, B.G., G.W. Johnstone, and E.J. Woehler. 1989. Organochlorine pesticides, PCBs and mercury in Antarctic and Subantarctic seabirds. Chemosphere 19 2007-2021. 

The earliest records detailing what could, in modern times, be termed drug metabolism studies were performed in the early to mid-nineteenth century. The conversion of benzoic acid to hippuric acid in dogs was first speculated on but not conclusively proved by Woehler in 1824, then in 1841 Ure ingested benzoic acid and observed hippuric acid in his urine, the first human drug metabolism study [1, 2] (Figure 7.1). 

Woehler and Frerichs demonstrated this through the dosing of benzaldehyde to volunteers, which still yielded hippuric acid [2] (Figure 7.2). 

Urea, which is also known as carbamide and carbonyldiamide, was discovered in urine by Rouelle in 1773. It was first synthesized from ammonia and cyanic acid by Woehler in 1828 . In the early 1900 s urea was produced on an industrial scale by the hydration of cyanamide, which was obtained from calcium cyanamide109 ... 

Few would have attempted such a colossal task Think of the time and the conditions under which he worked. In the reminiscences of his famous pupil, Woehler, is a description of the room m which Berzelius labored. The laboratory consisted of two ordinary rooms with the very simplest arrangements there were neither furnaces nor hoods, neither water system nor gas. Against the walls stood some closets with the chemicals, in the middle the mercury trough and the blast lamp table. Beside this was the sink consisting of a stone water holder with a stopcock and a pot standing under it. In the kitchen close by, in which Anna prepared the food, stood a small heating furnace. The chemicals he had to use in his analyses were often either unpurchasable or too impure to be used for accurate results... 

Slowly, carefully, laboriously, Woehler worked away in the sacred temple of his laboratory If he could only make one of those innumerable substances which until now only the intricate chemical workshop of the living organism had fashionedl What a blow he could strike at this false idea—a blow even more powerful than that which immortal Lavoisier had dealt to the mischievous theory of phlogiston half a century before him As he dreamed and hoped he kept working, watching his test tubes and flasks, his evaporating dishes and condensers. 

Friedrich Woehler had read the recently published work of Chevreul who had shown that many of the fats and other substances occurring in both the animal and vegetable kingdoms were identical. The barrier between animal and vegetable matter had thus been broken down. He was familiar with the work on animal chemistry of Rouelle, magnetic teacher of Lavoisier. These men had taken the first steps. 

Woehler s goal was alluring. Experiment after experiment gave negative results but he kept plodding away. Once, in Berzelius own laboratory in Stockholm, he had made some peculiar white crystalline substance which he could not identify. Four years passed. Then one afternoon the miracle happened. 

It was not strange that Woehler recognized at once this crystalline urea. He had started his career in science as a student of medicine and while competing for a prize for the best essay on the waste products found in urine, had come across urea. 

Woehler was excited He was standing upon the threshold of a new era in chemistry, witnessing the great tragedy of science, the slaying of a beautiful hypothesis by an ugly fact. ... 

He had synthesized the first organic compound outside the living body. The mind of young Woehler almost reeled at the thought of the virgin fields rich in mighty harvests which now awaited the creatures of the crucible. He kept his head. He carefully analyzed his product to verify its identity. He must assure himself that this historic crystal was the same as that formed under the influence of the so-called vital force. 

Woehler published his modest memoir on the synthesis of urea in 1828 and a century and a quarter later Dr. Robert B. Woodward of Harvard University synthesized cortisone, a very complex hormone used in the treatment of arthritis. What a century of research between Woehler s urea and Woodward s cortisone Six hundred thousand compounds have been prepared in this branch of synthetic chemistry, while every year four thousand new ones are added. No wonder that when Gmelin was preparing his handbook of chemistry he pleaded for chemists to stop discovering to give him a chance to catch up with his work. Woehler, a modest man, would have been the last to claim for himself the distinction of being the forerunner of such tremendous achievements. 

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