The Inorganic Crystal Structure Database, a database of inorganic crystal structure data founded by Günter Bergerhoff and I.D.Brown in 1978, defined inorganic carbon compounds as compounds containing either C-H or C-C bonds. Merely saying that an organic compound is any compound that contains a carbon atom will not be absolutely correct as it will allude to the inclusion of some carbon-containing inorganic compounds. With the discrediting of vitalism, consensus on a modern definition for organic and inorganic compounds has not been reached among chemists. ConfusionsĪt the height of vitalism, there had been a clear demarcation between organic and inorganic compounds. This is considered a crucial turning point that later led to the rise of modern organic chemistry. He discovered in 1828 that urea could be chemically produced from salts potassium cyanate and ammonium sulfate.
In one of his experiments, he found out that urea, which was once thought to be produced only by living things, could be produced from inorganic precursors. This belief had long been held for many centuries until Friedrich Wöhler (1800 – 1882) disputed it with empirical evidence from his experiments. They may be derived, for instance, from geological systems, e.g. Inorganic compounds were thought of as compounds that were not derived from organisms. This was the fundamental boundary that defined organic from inorganic compounds. Those that were obtainable from non-living things had been called inorganic, meaning “not organic”.
The chemicals that living things produced had been called organic since they came from organisms. This vital force enabled them to produce certain chemicals that non-living things would not be able to produce.
According to this theory, living things had a sort of a vital force – vis-vitalis – that made them distinct from non-living things. One of the predominant theories in the early centuries is vitalism.