Brief History

These are the most notable milestones, in my view, that over the last three centuries have led to the development of Organic Chemistry as we know it today.

Painting of an 18th-century drawing-room scene

At the end of the XVIII Century

The Organic Chemistry enigma: the vital force. It is already realized that organic compounds are formed by a very limited number of different elements.

Beginning of XIX Century

Chemists begin to glimpse a structural order. The law of multiple proportions is established.

Animation of Wöhler's urea synthesis from ammonia (NH₃) and isocyanic acid (HNCO)

1820-1830

Urea synthesis: a bridge is laid down between inorganic and organic chemistry. The precision of elemental analyses is improved. An unsuspected complication arises: isomerism.

Laurent's three-dimensional model: a C₈H₁₂ hydrocarbon in which two hydrogens are replaced by chlorine without changing the structure

circa 1830

The organic radicals are proposed as an ordering principle. Discovery and profusion of organic radicals.

Methyl, ethyl and amyl cyanides are converted into acetic, propionic and caproic acids

1840-1850

Establishing further order amidst organic radicals: the concept of substitution. Definition of derived radicals.

1850-1860

Ordering by compound type. Unifying radicals and compound types. Internal structure of radicals: The discovery of carbon tetravalency and its capacity to form endless chains.

Ball-and-stick model of methane: the tetrahedral carbon

1860-1870

Tetrahedral structure of carbon: optical isomerism. First modern formulas.

Recent Milestones

Hexagonal structure of benzene. Set up of resonance theory. Development of X-ray diffraction and mass spectrometry. Conformational analysis: cyclohexane stereochemistry. Discovery and development of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance.

This summary has been extracted in part from the book From Vital Force to Structural Formulas O. Theodor Benfey, ACS, 1975
Most of the biographical notes have been taken from the Larousse encyclopedia.