<P> Complexation with oxalic acid helps to drive this chemical equilibrium to completion . </P> <P> The Wöhler synthesis is of great historical significance because for the first time an organic compound was produced from inorganic reactants . This finding went against the mainstream theory of that time called vitalism which stated that organic matter possessed a special force or vital force inherent to all things living . For this reason a sharp boundary existed between organic and inorganic compounds . Urea was discovered in 1799 and could until then only be obtained from biological sources such as urine . Wöhler reported to his mentor Berzelius </P> <P> "I cannot, so to say, hold my chemical water and must tell you that I can make urea without thereby needing to have kidneys, or anyhow, an animal, be it human or dog". </P> <P> It is argued that organic chemistry did not actually start with this discovery in 1828 but 4 years earlier with the synthesis of oxalic acid in 1824 also by Wöhler and also from the inorganic precursor cyanogen . It is also argued that vitalism was not put to bed either in 1828 . His contemporaries Liebig and Pasteur never abandoned vitalism and it took until 1845 when Kolbe repeated an inorganic--organic conversion of carbon disulfide to acetic acid before vitalism started to lose supporters in serious numbers . </P>

Who prepared urea for the first time by heating ammonium cyanide