You must have seen coal. Have you ever wondered
how coal is formed?
Let’s see,
Years ago, when trees and different plants
they died, due to flooding and other factors.
They got buried under the earth’s crust.
With the passage of time, and due to extreme
conditions of temperature and pressure, these
dead and decaying plants and also animals
got converted into coal.
So, this is how the coal that we see today,
took millions of years to be formed.
Now, similarly, substances like sugar, starch
and protein, they are derived from plants
and animals and substances like, sulphates,
common salt and nitrates, they are derived
from minerals i.e., from non-living sources.
So, the substances that are derived from plants
and animals i.e., from living sources, these
substances belong to a branch of Chemistry
known as Organic Chemistry and the substances
that are derived from non-living sources belong
to a branch of Chemistry known as Inorganic
Chemistry.
Years ago, it was believed that the substances,
the organic substances in nature, they are
directly derived from nature. They cannot
be prepared artificially in the laboratory.
That means, there is some force in nature,
which helps in the preparation of these organic
compounds. This force was known as Vital Force
and the theory was known as Vitalism.
In 1773, a scientist named Hilaire Rouelle
discovered urea from the urine of living organisms.
Since this was a product of living source
so, urea was an organic compound 
and according to vital force theory, this
could not be prepared in the laboratory.
In 1828, another scientist named Friedrich
Wohler, he prepared a substance in the laboratory,
he prepared NH₄NCO. This compound behaved
like urea and this was an unstable compound.
It got converted into a stable compound, which
was urea itself.
So from an unstable, inorganic compound he
was able to form a stable organic compound.
That was urea.
It was the first time that an organic compound
was prepared in the laboratory.
Even Wohler was shocked because he believed
in the concept of Vitalism.
So, he wrote a letter to his professor saying
that he could prepare urea without the help
of a kidney or an animal and without the help
of man or dog i.e., without using any living
source he was able to perform he was able
to make organic compound.
When Berzelius read this he replied that it
was a very important and beautiful discovery
and it gave him extreme pleasure to know of
it.
So, this was first time an organic compound
was prepared in the laboratory and so Frederic
Wohler is known as The Lord Of The Carbon
Rings.
This, this mark the end of an age. It marked
the end of Vitalism. Vitalism believed that
no organic compound could be prepared in the
laboratory but by the preparation of urea
Wohler was able to show that organic compound’s
could be prepared in the laboratory.
Now, more than 5 million organic compounds
are known today and these organic compounds
belong to a branch of Chemistry known as Organic
Chemistry and all these organic compounds
essentially contained Carbon.
So, Organic Chemistry is essentially the study
of carbon compounds. It includes most of the
carbon compounds excluding some compounds
like oxides and bicarbonates of carbon but
most of the compounds of carbon belong to
the Organic Chemistry branch.
In our everyday life, right from the soap
we use to take bath, the perfume, the clothes
we wear, the fuel’s we use, the drugs, medicines,
gas, the food we eat, all these are organic
compounds and thus, the organic compounds
and Organic Chemistry is a very special part
of our everyday life.
