Organic Chemistry since 1860

Abstract

In 1858, Couper and Kekulé advanced the theory of the tetravalent carbon atom and the idea that carbon atoms could link to themselves to form chains. Gerhardt, the great exponent of the type theory who had died in 1856, had always maintained that the structure of a molecule could never be known. However, in consequence of the work of Couper and Kekulé, this view was now being questioned, and as a result of the growing body of knowledge concerning organic compounds, chemists could now suggest structural formulae for them.