ORGANIC CHEMISTRY – SOME BASIC PRINCIPLES AND TECHNIQUES

SOME BASIC PRINCIPLES AND TECHNIQUES

The element carbon has the unique property called catenation due to which it forms covalent bonds with other carbon atoms.

• It also forms covalent bonds with atoms of other elements like hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, sulphur, phosphorus and halogens.
• The resulting compounds are studied under a separate branch of chemistry called organic chemistry.

Berzilius, a Swedish chemist proposed that a ‘vital force’ was responsible for the formation of organic compounds. However, this notion was rejected in 1828 when F. Wohler synthesized an organic compound, urea from an inorganic compound, ammonium cyanate.

The pioneering synthesis of acetic acid by Kolbe (1845) and that of methane by Berthelot (1856) showed
conclusively that organic compounds could be synthesized from inorganic sources in a laboratory.