History of the development of organic chemistry. The subject and importance of organic chemistry

Few people thought about the role of organic chemistry in the life of modern man. But it is huge, it is difficult to overestimate it. From the morning, when a person wakes up and goes to wash, and until the evening, when he goes to bed, he is accompanied by products of organic chemistry every minute. Toothbrush, clothes, paper, cosmetics, furniture and interior items and much more - all this gives us it. But once everything was completely wrong, and very little was known about organic chemistry.

Let us consider how the history of the development of organic chemistry was formed in stages.

1. The period of development until the XIV century, called spontaneous.

2. XV - XVII centuries - the beginning of development or, iatrochemistry, alchemy.

3. Century XVIII - XIX - the dominance of the theory of vitalism.

4. XIX - XX centuries - intensive development, scientific stage.

The beginning, or the Elemental stage of the formation of chemistry of organic compounds

This period implies the very emergence of the concept of chemistry, the origins. And the origins go back to Ancient Rome and Egypt, in which very capable residents learned to extract dyes for coloring items and clothes from natural raw materials - leaves and stems of plants. It was an indigo, giving a rich blue color, and an alizorin, coloring almost everything in juicy and attractive shades of orange and red. Extraordinarily agile residents of different nationalities of the same time also learned how to get vinegar, make alcoholic drinks from sugar and starch-containing substances of plant origin.

It is known that very common products in use during this historical period were animal fats, resins and vegetable oils, which were used by physicians and cooks. And also various poisons densely entered into everyday life, as the main weapon of internal relations. All these substances are products of organic chemistry.

But, unfortunately, as such the concept of "chemistry" did not exist, and the study of specific substances in order to clarify the properties and composition did not occur. Therefore, this period is called spontaneous. All discoveries were of a random, unfocused nature of everyday significance. This continued until the next century.

The period of iatrochemistry is a promising beginning of development

Indeed, it was in the 16th and 17th centuries that direct ideas about chemistry as a science began to emerge. Thanks to the work of scientists of that time, some organic substances were obtained, the simplest devices for the distillation and sublimation of substances were invented, special chemical glassware was used to grind substances, to separate the products of nature into ingredients.

The main focus of the time was medicine. The desire to obtain the necessary medicines led to the fact that essential oils and other raw materials were released from the plants. So, Karl Scheele obtained some organic acids from plant materials:

• apple
• lemon;
• gall;
• dairy;
• oxal.

It took a scientist 16 years to study plants and isolate these acids (from 1769 to 1785). This was the beginning of development, the foundations of organic chemistry were laid, which was immediately defined and named later as the branch of chemistry (beginning of the 18th century).

In the same period of the Middle Ages G. F. Ruel isolated crystals of uric acid from urea. Other chemists obtained succinic acid from amber, tartaric acid. The method of dry distillation of plant and animal raw materials is included in everyday life, due to which acetic acid, diethyl ether, and wood alcohol are obtained.

This was the beginning of the intensive development of the organic chemical industry in the future.

Vis vitalis, or "Life Force"

XVIII - XIX centuries for organic chemistry are very twofold: on the one hand, there are a number of discoveries that are of great importance. On the other hand, for a long time, the growth and accumulation of the necessary knowledge and correct ideas is hindered by the prevailing theory of vitalism.

This theory was introduced into everyday life and designated as the main one by Jens Jacobs Berzelius, who himself also gave the definition of organic chemistry (the exact year is unknown, either 1807, or 1808). According to the provisions of this theory, organic substances are able to form only in living organisms (plants and animals, including humans), since only in living beings there is a special "life force" that allows these substances to be produced. While it is completely impossible to get organic from inorganic substances, since they are products of inanimate nature, non-combustible, without vis vitalis.

The same scientists proposed the first classification of all compounds known at that time into inorganic (non-living, all substances like water and salt) and organic (living, those like olive oil and sugar). Berzelius was also the first to indicate specifically what organic chemistry is. The definition was as follows: this is a section of chemistry that studies substances isolated from living organisms.

During this period, scientists easily carried out the conversion of organic substances into inorganic ones, for example, during combustion. However, nothing was known about the possibility of reverse transformations.

Fate was pleased to order so that it was Jens Berzelius’s student Friedrich Wöhler who contributed to the beginning of the collapse of his teacher’s theory.

The German scientist worked on cyanide compounds and in one of the experiments he managed to obtain crystals similar to uric acid. As a result of a more thorough study, he was convinced that he really managed to get organic matter from inorganic without any vis vitalis. No matter how skeptical Berzelius was, he was forced to admit this indisputable fact. So the first blow to vitalistic views was dealt. The history of the development of organic chemistry began to gain momentum.

A series of discoveries that crush vitalism

The success of Veler inspired the chemists of the 18th century, so widespread tests and experiments began with the aim of obtaining organic substances in artificial conditions. There were several such syntheses, which were of decisive and greatest importance.

1. 1845 - Adolf Kolbe, who was a student of Weler, was able to obtain acetic acid, which is an organic substance, from a simple inorganic substance C, H ₂ , O _{2 by a} complete multi-stage synthesis.
2. 1812 Konstantin Kirchhoff synthesized glucose from starch and acid.
3. 1820 Henri Braconno denatured the protein with acid and then treated the mixture with nitric acid and received the first of the 20 later synthesized amino acids - glycine.
4. 1809 Michel Chevrel studied the composition of fats, trying to break them down into its constituent components. As a result, he received fatty acids and glycerin. 1854. Jean Berthelot continued the work of Chevrel and heated glycerin with stearic acid. The result is fat that closely follows the structure of natural compounds. In the future, he managed to get other fats and oils, which were slightly different in molecular structure from natural analogues. That is, he proved the possibility of obtaining new organic compounds of great importance in the laboratory.
5. J. Berthelot synthesized methane from hydrogen sulfide (H ₂ S) and carbon disulfide (CS ₂ ).
6. 1842 Zinin was able to synthesize aniline, a dye from nitrobenzene. Subsequently, he managed to obtain a number of aniline dyes.
7. A. Bayer creates his own laboratory, which is engaged in the active and successful synthesis of organic dyes similar to natural ones: alizarin, indigo, anthroquinone, xanthene.
8. 1846 synthesis of nitroglycerin by the scientist Sobrero. He developed the theory of types, which says that substances are similar to some of the inorganic ones and can be obtained by replacing hydrogen atoms in the structure.
9. 1861 A. M. Butlerov synthesized a sugar substance from formalin. He also formulated the provisions of the theory of the chemical structure of organic compounds that are relevant to this day.

All these discoveries determined the subject of organic chemistry - carbon and its compounds. Further discoveries were aimed at studying the mechanisms of chemical reactions in organics, at establishing the electronic nature of interactions, and at considering the structure of compounds.

The second half of the XIX and XX centuries - the time of global chemical discoveries

The history of the development of organic chemistry over time has undergone more and more changes. The work of many scientists on the mechanisms of internal processes in molecules, in reactions and systems has yielded fruitful results. So, in 1857, Friedrich Kekule developed the theory of valency. He also owes the greatest merit - the discovery of the structure of the molecule of aromatic hydrocarbon benzene. At the same time, A. M. Butlerov formulated the provisions of the theory of the structure of compounds in which he points to the tetravalence of carbon and the phenomenon of the existence of isomers and isomers.

VV Markovnikov and A. M. Zaitsev delve into the study of reaction mechanisms in organic matter and formulate a series of rules that explain and confirm these mechanisms. In 1873 - 1875 I. Wislicenus, Vant-Hoff and Le Belle study the spatial arrangement of atoms in molecules, discover the existence of stereoisomers and become the founders of an entire science - stereochemistry. Many different people took part in the creation of the field of organics that we have today. Therefore, scientists in organic chemistry deserve attention.

The end of the 19th and 20th centuries was the time of global discoveries in pharmaceuticals, the paint and varnish industry, and quantum chemistry. Consider the discoveries that provided the maximum value of organic chemistry.

1. 1881 M. Conrad and M. Gudzeit synthesized anesthetics, veronal and salicylic acid.
2. 1883 L. Knorr received antipyrine.
3. 1884 F. Stoll received a pyramidon.
4. In 1869, the Hyatt brothers received the first artificial fiber.
5. 1884 D. Eastman synthesized celluloid film.
6. 1890 L. Depassi copper-ammonia fiber was obtained.
7. 1891 C. Cross and his colleagues received viscose.
8. 1897 F. Misher and Buchner founded the theory of biological oxidation (cell-free fermentation and enzymes as biocatalysts were discovered).
9. 1897 F. Misher discovered nucleic acids.
10. The beginning of the XX century - a new chemistry of organoelement compounds.
11. 1917 Lewis discovered the electronic nature of chemical bonds in molecules.
12. 1931. Hückel is the founder of quantum mechanisms in chemistry.
13. 1931-1933 Laimus Pauling justifies the theory of resonance, and later his employees reveal the essence of directions in chemical reactions.
14. 1936 synthesized nylon.
15. 1930-1940 A. E. Arbuzov gives rise to the development of organophosphorus compounds, which are the basis for the production of plastics, drugs and insecticides.
16. 1960 Academician Nesmeyanov with his students creates the first synthetic food in laboratory conditions.
17. 1963 Du Vigne receives insulin, which is a huge step forward in medicine.
18. 1968. The Indian H.H. Koran managed to get a simple gene, which helped in deciphering the genetic code.

Thus, the importance of organic chemistry in people's lives is simply colossal. Plastics, polymers, fibers, paints and varnishes, rubbers, rubbers, PVC materials, polypropylenes and polyethylenes and many other modern substances, without which life is simply not possible today, have come a difficult path to their discovery. Hundreds of scientists have contributed their many years of painstaking work to create a common history of the development of organic chemistry.

Modern organic compound system

Having made a huge and difficult path in development, organic chemistry still does not stand still. More than 10 million compounds are known, and this number is growing every year. Therefore, there is a certain systematic structure of the arrangement of substances that organic chemistry gives us. The classification of organic compounds is presented in the table.

The study of the whole variety of substances and reactions that they enter into is the subject of organic chemistry today.

Types of chemical bonds in organic substances

Any compounds are characterized by electron-static interactions within the molecules, which in the organic system are expressed in the presence of covalent polar and covalent non-polar bonds. In organometallic compounds, the formation of a weak ionic interaction is possible.

Covalent non-polar bonds arise between the C-C interaction in all organic molecules. Covalent polar interaction is characteristic of different non-metal atoms in the molecule. For example, C-Hal, CH, CO, CN, CP, CS. These are all the bonds in organic chemistry that exist for the formation of compounds.

Varieties of formulas of substances in organics

The most common formulas expressing the quantitative composition of a compound are called empirical. Such formulas exist for every inorganic substance. But when it came to compiling formulas in organics, scientists faced many problems. Firstly, the mass of many of them is in the hundreds, or even thousands. It is difficult to determine the empirical formula for such a huge substance. Therefore, over time, there appeared such a section of organic chemistry as organic analysis. Its founders are scientists Liebig, Vehler, Gay-Lussac and Berzelius. It was they, together with the works of A. M. Butlerov, who determined the existence of isomers - substances that have the same qualitative and quantitative composition, but differ in molecular structure and properties. That is why the structure of organic compounds is expressed today not empirically, but structurally complete or structural abbreviated formula.

These structures are a characteristic and distinctive feature that organic chemistry has. Formulas are written with dashes denoting chemical bonds. for example, the reduced structural formula of butane will have the form CH ₃ - CH ₂ - CH ₂ - CH ₃ . The full structural formula shows all the chemical bonds in the molecule.

There is also a method for recording molecular formulas of organic compounds. It looks the same as empirical in inorganic. For butane, for example, it will be like this: C ₄ H ₁₀ . That is, the molecular formula gives an idea only of the qualitative and quantitative composition of the compound. Structural bonds characterize bonds in a molecule; therefore, one can predict future properties and chemical behavior of a substance from them. These are the features that organic chemistry has. Formulas are written in any form, each of them is considered correct.

Types of reactions in organic chemistry

There is a certain classification of organic chemistry according to the type of reactions taking place. Moreover, there are several such classifications, for various reasons. Consider the main ones.

The mechanisms of chemical reactions by methods of breaking and forming bonds:

• homolytic or radical;
• heterolytic or ionic.

Reactions by type of transformation:

• chain radical;
• nucleophilic aliphatic substitution;
• nucleophilic aromatic substitution;
• elimination reactions;
• electrophilic connection;
• condensation;
• cyclization;
• electrophilic substitution;
• rearrangement reactions.

According to the method of starting the reaction (initiation) and the kinetic order, reactions are also sometimes classified. These are the main features of the reactions that organic chemistry possesses. The theory describing the details of the course of each chemical reaction was discovered back in the middle of the 20th century and is still confirmed and supplemented with every new discovery and synthesis.

It should be noted that, in general, reactions in organics proceed under more stringent conditions than in inorganic chemistry. This is due to the greater stabilization of the molecules of organic compounds due to the formation of strong and intramolecular bonds. Therefore, practically no reaction is complete without an increase in temperature, pressure or the use of a catalyst.

The modern definition of organic chemistry

In general, the development of organic chemistry has followed an intensive path for several centuries. A huge amount of information has been accumulated about substances, their structures and reactions into which they can enter. Synthesized millions of useful and simply necessary raw materials used in various fields of science, technology and industry. The concept of organic chemistry is today perceived as something grandiose and large, numerous and complex, diverse and significant.

At one time, the first definition of this great branch of chemistry was what Berzelius gave: it is a chemistry that studies substances isolated from organisms. Much time has passed since that moment, many discoveries have been made, and a large number of mechanisms of intrachemical processes have been realized and discovered. As a result of this, today there is a different concept of what organic chemistry is. The definition is given to her: this is the chemistry of carbon and all its compounds, as well as methods for their synthesis.