In: Chemistry
Organic chemistry is defined as a " branch of chemistry, involving the study of the compounds of carbon".
Carbon has the property of catenation, because of the property carbon forms covalent bonds with carbon atoms and also with other elements such as hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, sulphur, phosphorous, halogens etc.
The term "organic" is dates back to 1780's, when the compounds from livining organisms only are considered as organic compounds. The Berzelius praposed that a "vital force" was required for the formation of organic compounds. The ' Vital force ' theory was rejected after Wholer synthesised urea in laboratory. The synthesis of acetic acid in 1845 and methane in 1856 in laboratory showed that organic compounds can be synthesised not only from living organisms but also from inorganic sources in laboratory. This changed the definition of ORGANIC CHEMISTRY as study of carbon compounds with few execeptions (e.g. CO2 and carbonate salts).