Wöhler synthesis

Friedrich Wöhler reports the artificial formation of urea

Wöhler joked to Berzelius that he could make urea without needing the kidney of a human — or even of a dog.

Berlin, 1828: the wrong crystals

In 1828, working in Berlin, Friedrich Wöhler was investigating cyanates and trying to prepare ammonium cyanate. The reactions instead yielded crystals, and he identified them as urea.

His paper described producing the substance from combinations including silver cyanate and ammonium chloride, then comparing its properties against urea isolated from urine.

What actually interested him

Urea and ammonium cyanate have the same elemental composition and behave very differently. That, rather than any campaign about life, was where Wöhler's attention went, and where the attention of his former teacher Jöns Jacob Berzelius went too.

Wöhler reported the finding to Berzelius privately in a letter dated 22 February 1828. The problem the result sharpened is the one later called isomerism.

Vitalism did not fall over

The four-page paper, "Ueber künstliche Bildung des Harnstoffs," ran on pages 253–256 of an 1828 volume of Annalen der Physik. It placed the artificial production of urea on the scientific record; chemists did not abandon vital forces because of it.

Historians also dispute whether to call it the first true organic synthesis. Wöhler transformed ammonium cyanate rather than assembling urea from its elements, and cyanate manufacture in his period could begin with animal-derived material.

Sources

Researched 23 Aug 2026 6 sources 2 audit passes

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What the sources leave uncertain

The experiment's exact date is not established by the consulted sources. The year 1828 is secure, and Wöhler's February 22 letter proves the finding preceded that date.
Historians dispute whether this should be called the first true organic synthesis because Wöhler transformed ammonium cyanate rather than synthesizing urea from its elements, and cyanate production at the time could begin with animal-derived material.