Editing Organic chemistry (section)

==History==
{{Main|History of chemistry}}
{{For timeline|Timeline of biology and organic chemistry}}
[[Image:Friedrich woehler.jpg|upright|thumb|[[Friedrich Wöhler]]]]
Before the 18th century, [[chemist]]s generally believed that [[Chemical compound|compounds]] obtained from living organisms were endowed with a vital force that distinguished them from [[inorganic compound]]s. According to the concept of [[vitalism]] (vital force theory), organic matter was endowed with a "vital force".<ref name=G%E>{{Greenwood&Earnshaw2nd}}</ref>  During the first half of the nineteenth century,  some of the first systematic studies of organic compounds were reported. Around 1816 [[Michel Eugène Chevreul|Michel Chevreul]] started a study of [[soap]]s made from various [[fat]]s and [[alkali]]s. He separated the acids that, in combination with the alkali, produced the soap.  Since these were all individual compounds, he demonstrated that it was possible to make a chemical change in various fats (which traditionally come from organic sources), producing new compounds, without "vital force". In 1828 [[Friedrich Wöhler]] produced the ''organic'' chemical [[urea]] (carbamide), a constituent of [[urine]], from ''inorganic'' starting materials (the salts [[potassium cyanate]] and [[ammonium sulfate]]), in what is now called the [[Wöhler synthesis]].  Although Wöhler himself was cautious about claiming he had disproved vitalism, this was the first time a substance thought to be organic was synthesized in the laboratory without biological (organic) starting materials. The event is now generally accepted as indeed disproving the doctrine of vitalism.<ref>{{cite book|title=A Source Book in Chemistry, 1400-1900|author=Henry Marshall Leicester|author2=Herbert S. Klickstein|publisher=Harvard University Press|date=1951|page=309}}</ref>

After Wöhler, [[Justus von Liebig]] worked on the organization of organic chemistry, being considered one of its principal founders.<ref name=RoyalSocietyObit>{{cite journal|last1=Royal Society of London|title=Obituary Notices of Fellows Deceased|journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society of London|date=1 January 1875|volume=24|pages=xxvii–xxxvii|url=https://archive.org/stream/philtrans06902924/06902924#page/n25/mode/2up/search/Liebig|access-date=5 November 2014}}</ref>

In 1856, [[Sir William Henry Perkin|William Henry Perkin]], while trying to manufacture [[quinine]], accidentally produced the organic [[dye]] now known as [[Perkin's mauve]]. His discovery, made widely known through its financial success, greatly increased interest in organic chemistry.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Kiefer, D. M. |title=Organic Chemicals' Mauve Beginning|journal= Chem. Eng. News |year=1993|volume=71|issue=32|pages=22–23|doi=10.1021/cen-v071n032.p022}}</ref>

A crucial breakthrough for organic chemistry was the concept of chemical structure, developed independently in 1858 by both [[Friedrich August Kekulé]] and [[Archibald Scott Couper]].<ref name=KekuleCHF>{{cite web|title=August Kekulé and Archibald Scott Couper|url=https://www.sciencehistory.org/historical-profile/august-kekul%C3%A9-and-archibald-scott-couper|website=[[Science History Institute]]|access-date=20 March 2018|date=June 2016}}</ref> Both researchers suggested that [[valence (chemistry)|tetravalent]] carbon atoms could link to each other to form a carbon lattice, and that the detailed patterns of atomic bonding could be discerned by skillful interpretations of appropriate chemical reactions.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last1=Streitwieser |first1=Andrew |title=Introduction to Organic Chemistry |last2=Heathcock |first2=Clayton H. |last3=Kosower |first3=Edward M. |publisher=Medtech (Scientific International, reprint of revised 4th edition, Macmillan, 1998) |year=2017 |isbn=978-93-85998-89-8 |location=New Delhi |pages=3–4}}</ref>

The era of the [[pharmaceutical]] industry began in the last decade of the 19th century when the German company, [[Bayer]], first manufactured acetylsalicylic acid—more commonly known as [[aspirin]].<ref>Roberts, Laura (7 December 2010) [https://web.archive.org/web/20101218090457/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/8184625/History-of-aspirin.html History of Aspirin]. ''The Telegraph''</ref> By 1910 [[Paul Ehrlich]] and his laboratory group began developing arsenic-based [[arsphenamine]] (Salvarsan) as the first effective medicinal treatment of [[syphilis]], and thereby initiated the medical practice of [[chemotherapy]]. Ehrlich popularized the concepts of "magic bullet" drugs and of systematically improving drug therapies.<ref name=BoschRosich>{{cite journal |doi=10.1159/000149583 |title=The contributions of Paul Ehrlich to pharmacology: A tribute on the occasion of the centenary of his Nobel Prize |year=2008 |author1=Bosch F |author2=Rosich L |journal=Pharmacology |volume=82 |issue=3 |pages=171–9 |pmid=18679046 |pmc=2790789}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |publisher=Rockefeller University |url=http://centennial.rucares.org/index.php?page=Chemotherapy |title=Paul Ehrlich, the Rockefeller Institute, and the first targeted chemotherapy |access-date=3 Aug 2012}}</ref> His laboratory made decisive contributions to developing antiserum for [[diphtheria]] and standardizing therapeutic serums.<ref name="CHF">{{cite web|title=Paul Ehrlich|url=https://www.sciencehistory.org/historical-profile/paul-ehrlich|website=Science History Institute|access-date=20 March 2018|date=June 2016}}</ref>

[[File:Grubbs-1G-from-xtal-2010-3D-balls.png|thumb|An example of an organometallic molecule, a catalyst called [[Grubbs' catalyst]]. Its formula is often given as RuCl<sub>2</sub>(PCy<sub>3</sub>)<sub>2</sub>(=CHPh), where the ball-and-stick model is based on  [[X-ray crystallography]].<ref>{{cite journal|year=2010|doi=10.1021/om100185g |journal=Organometallics|volume=29|issue=12 |pages=2735–2751|title=Tuning the Steric Properties of a Metathesis Catalyst for Copolymerization of Norbornene and Cyclooctene toward Complete Alternation |last1=Torker |first1=Sebastian |last2=Müller |first2=Andre |last3=Sigrist |first3=Raphael |last4=Chen |first4=Peter }}</ref> The single metal atom ruthenium (Ru) (in turquoise) is at the very center of the structure. Two chlorines (green) are bonded to the ruthenium atom. Carbon atoms are black, hydrogens gray-white, and phosphorus orange. A phosphorus-[[ligand]] bond, tricyclohexyl [[phosphine]], PCy, is below center. Another PCy ligand  appears at the top of the image where its rings are obscuring one another. The ring group projecting to the right, an [[alkylidene]], contains a metal-carbon double bond to ruthenium.]]

Early examples of organic reactions and applications were often found because of a combination of luck and preparation for unexpected observations. The latter half of the 19th century however witnessed systematic studies of organic compounds. The development of [[synthetic indigo]] is illustrative. The production of indigo from plant sources dropped from 19,000 tons in 1897 to 1,000 tons by 1914 thanks to the synthetic methods developed by [[Adolf von Baeyer]]. In 2002, 17,000 tons of synthetic indigo were produced from [[petrochemical]]s.<ref name=Ullmann>Steingruber, Elmar (2004) "Indigo and Indigo Colorants" in ''Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry'', Wiley-VCH, Weinheim. {{doi| 10.1002/14356007.a14_149.pub2}}</ref>

In the early part of the 20th century, [[polymer]]s and [[enzyme]]s were shown to be large organic molecules, and petroleum was shown to be of biological origin.

The multiple-step synthesis of complex organic compounds is called total synthesis. [[Total synthesis]] of complex natural compounds increased in complexity to [[glucose]] and [[terpineol]]. For example, [[cholesterol]]-related compounds have opened ways to synthesize complex [[List of human hormones|human hormones]] and their modified derivatives. Since the start of the 20th century, complexity of total syntheses has been increased to include molecules of high complexity such as [[lysergic acid]] and [[vitamin B12|vitamin B<sub>12</sub>]].<ref>{{cite book |author1= Nicolaou, K.C. |author2= Sorensen, E.J. |title= Classics in Total Synthesis: Targets, Strategies, Methods |publisher= [[John Wiley & Sons|Wiley]] |year= 1996 | isbn= 978-3-527-29231-8 }}</ref>
[[image:Cyanocobalamin.svg|thumb|left|230px|The [[total synthesis]] of vitamin B<sub>12</sub> marked a major achievement in organic chemistry.]]

The discovery of [[petroleum]] and the development of the [[petrochemical industry]] spurred the development of organic chemistry. Converting individual petroleum compounds into ''types'' of compounds by various chemical processes led to [[organic reactions]] enabling a broad range of industrial and commercial products including, among (many) others: [[plastics]], [[synthetic rubber]], organic [[adhesives]], and various property-modifying petroleum additives and [[Catalysis|catalysts]].

The majority of chemical compounds occurring in biological organisms are carbon compounds, so the association between organic chemistry and [[biochemistry]] is so close that biochemistry might be regarded as in essence a branch of organic chemistry. Although the [[history of biochemistry]] might be taken to span some four centuries, fundamental understanding of the field only began to develop in the late 19th century and the actual term ''biochemistry'' was coined around the start of 20th century. Research in the field increased throughout the twentieth century, without any indication of slackening in the rate of increase, as may be verified by inspection of abstraction and indexing services such as [[BIOSIS Previews]] and [[Biological Abstracts]], which began in the 1920s as a single annual volume, but has grown so drastically that by the end of the 20th century it was only available to the everyday user as an online electronic [[database]].<ref>Allan, Barbara. Livesey, Brian (1994). ''How to Use Biological Abstracts, Chemical Abstracts and Index Chemicus''. Gower. {{ISBN|978-0-566-07556-8}}</ref>