Jon's Jacob berzelius by trade, first coined the term "organic chemistry" in 1806 for the study of compounds derived from biological sources. Up through the early 19th century, naturalists and scientists observed critical differences between compounds that were derived from living things and those that were not.
Chemists of the period noted that there seemed to be an essential yet inexplicable difference between the properties of the two different types of compounds. The vital force theory, sometimes called "vitalism" (vital means "life force"), was therefore proposed, and widely accepted, as a way to explain these differences, that a "vital force" existed within organic material but did not exist in any inorganic materials.
Organic Chemistry began when Antoine Laurent Lavoisier showed how chemical composition can be determined by identifying and measuring the amount of water, carbon dioxide, and other materials produced when various substances are burned in the air. Analysis of the combustion process carried out on substances derived from natural sources concludes that the substance contains carbon, and finally a new definition of organic chemistry emerges: organic chemistry is the study of carbon compounds. this is the definition used until now.
Jon's Jacob berzelius by trade, first coined the term "organic chemistry" in 1806 for the study of compounds derived from biological sources. Up through the early 19th century, naturalists and scientists observed critical differences between compounds that were derived from living things and those that were not.
Chemists of the period noted that there seemed to be an essential yet inexplicable difference between the properties of the two different types of compounds. The vital force theory, sometimes called "vitalism" (vital means "life force"), was therefore proposed, and widely accepted, as a way to explain these differences, that a "vital force" existed within organic material but did not exist in any inorganic materials.
Organic Chemistry began when Antoine Laurent Lavoisier showed how chemical composition can be determined by identifying and measuring the amount of water, carbon dioxide, and other materials produced when various substances are burned in the air. Analysis of the combustion process carried out on substances derived from natural sources concludes that the substance contains carbon, and finally a new definition of organic chemistry emerges: organic chemistry is the study of carbon compounds. this is the definition used until now.