1828: Synthesis of urea - The book of science

Synthesis of urea
Enzymes
Vital forces
Commentary

Synthesis of urea

“I can make urea
without a kidney
of man or dog,” said Friedrich Wöhler.
Louis Pasteur went further
in claiming
a chemist could create life
which was not proven
until 1897 when Eduard Buchner
showed that enzymes from yeast
could convert sugar to alcohol
a biological process—fermentation—
occurs without living cells.

Enzymes

tiny scrapers
clean
my dishes
tiny motors
pickle
my cucumbers
tiny screwdrivers
turn grape juice
to wine
tiny levers
convert
starches to sugars
and ferment the sugars
to raise
my buns
tiny glue guns
coagulate
my cheese

Vital forces

Nothing special
about life in general
except that we in particular
share
it and a complexity
that cannot be explained
by chemical analysis.
Life could begin again
where chemicals meet by chance
with photons from the sun.
Achieving consciousness
could be a matter
of only time and degree.
Even those who think
a monkey has no soul
could in time agree.

Urea is made naturally by the kidney. Wöhler’s preparation of urea without the help of a living cell was thought to be the first step toward the creation of life in the laboratory, the first synthesis of an organic compound, and his discovery was an accident!

Wöhler became a pioneer in organic chemistry. He co-discovered beryllium, silicon, and silicon nitride, he discovered aluminum, he isolated yttrium and titanium, he discovered how to purify nickel, and he showed how to synthesize other compounds including calcium carbide.

Enzymes hasten natural reactions without being “consumed by the reactions they catalyze, nor do they alter the equilibrium of these reactions.” They have many industrial applications as well as having dependencies in animal biological activites. “Almost all processes in a biological cell need enzymes to occur at significant rates.”