Total synthesis

In organic chemistry, total synthesis is a way of making a complicated organic compound from simple laboratory chemicals, normally inorganic compounds.

Total synthesis is mostly used in basic research, where it is used to study chemical reactions and find new tools for organic synthesis. In the chemical industry it is normally cheaper or easier to make complex molecules from other complex molecules rather than starting from simple ones.

 History 
The first total synthesis was the Wöhler synthesis of urea, which Friedrich Wöhler discovered by accident in 1828. 

Category:Organic chemistry