Organic Chemistry

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Organic Chemistry, branch of chemistry in which carbon compounds and their reactions are studied. A wide variety of classes of substances—such as drugs, vitamins, plastics, natural and synthetic fibers, as well as carbohydrates, proteins, and fats—consist of organic molecules. Organic chemists determine the structures of organic molecules, study their various reactions, and develop procedures for the synthesis of organic compounds. Organic chemistry has had a profound effect on modern life: It has improved natural materials and it has synthesized natural and artificial materials that have, in turn, improved health, increased comfort, and added to the convenience of nearly every product manufactured today.

The advent of organic chemistry is often associated with the discovery in 1828 by the German chemist Friedrich Wöhler that the inorganic, or mineral, substance called ammonium cyanate could be converted in the laboratory to urea, an organic substance found in the urine of many animals. Before this discovery, chemists thought that intervention by a so-called life force was necessary for the synthesis of organic substances. Wöhler's experiment broke down the barrier between inorganic and organic substances. Modern chemists consider organic compounds to be those containing carbon and one or more other elements, most often hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur, or the halogens, but sometimes others as well.

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