有机化学家的主要任务之一是提供各种各样結构式已知的含碳化合物,到目前为止,已知的有机化合物约有75万种之多,而新化合物的合成仍在快速的继续着。过去,增加新化合物的方法不外下列二种,第一个方法是从天然物中提取,这是个很古老的方法,早在化学成为一門科学之前就已經在进行着;例如琥珀酸和苯甲酸早在1550年就已經被記載了。实际上所有的有机化学的基础工作都是基于天然产物的,因为直到1828年伏勒尔(Wohler)才偶然发現了从氰酸銨合成尿素,从而对于在实驗中制备有机化合物开始有一点点信心。 One of the major tasks of organic chemists is to provide a wide variety of known carbon-containing compounds so far, with as many as about 750,000 known organic compounds, and the synthesis of new compounds continues rapidly With In the past, there were no more than two alternatives for adding new compounds. The first one, extracted from natural products, is a very ancient method that was already in existence before chemistry became a science; for example, succinic acid and benzoic acid As early as 1550 has been recorded. In fact, all basic work in organic chemistry was based on natural products, because it was not until 1828 that Wohler accidentally discovered the synthesis of urea from ammonium cyanate, thus beginning a little bit with the preparation of organic compounds in experiments confidence.