1. In 1828, Wohler synthesized urea in the laboratory. This was significant because it
demonstrated that:
a. biomolecules are carbon compounds
b. urea would be an ideal fertilizer
c. organic compounds can be synthesized without living organisms
d. life cannot generate spontaneously from non-living matter

The correct answer is (c) organic compounds can be synthesized without living organisms. Wöhler’s 1828 laboratory synthesis of urea from inorganic salts showed for the first time that a biological compound need not come from a living body, striking a major blow to the vital force (vitalism) theory in organic chemistry.​

Introduction

In 1828, Friedrich Wöhler synthesized urea, a naturally occurring nitrogenous waste product, in the laboratory starting from inorganic salts such as silver cyanate and ammonium salts. This experiment marked the first widely accepted synthesis of an organic compound from non‑living materials and directly challenged the then-dominant vitalism theory, which claimed that organic compounds could arise only in living organisms under the influence of a special “vital force.” For competitive exams, the conceptual takeaway is that Wöhler’s urea synthesis proved that organic compounds can be synthesized without living organisms, which is exactly what option (c) states.​

Detailed answer to the MCQ

Question:
In 1828, Wöhler synthesized urea in the laboratory. This was significant because it demonstrated that:
a. biomolecules are carbon compounds
b. urea would be an ideal fertilizer
c. organic compounds can be synthesized without living organisms
d. life cannot generate spontaneously from non-living matter

Correct option: (c)

Option (c) – Correct

• Wöhler prepared urea (a typical organic compound found in urine) from ammonium cyanate, an inorganic salt, by an internal rearrangement, showing that an organic compound can be made from inorganic precursors in vitro.​

• This result contradicted the vitalism doctrine, which held that organic compounds required a “vital force” present only in living organisms; hence the key conceptual lesson is that organic compounds can be synthesized without living organisms.​

Therefore, (c) directly expresses the principle demonstrated by Wöhler’s experiment and is the correct answer.​

Why the other options are wrong

Option (a) biomolecules are carbon compounds

• It is true that biomolecules such as carbohydrates, proteins, lipids and nucleic acids are predominantly carbon-based, but this was already known or inferable from elemental analysis and was not the special message of Wöhler’s experiment.​

• Wöhler’s work specifically addressed the source and mode of formation of organic compounds, not the mere fact that they contain carbon; many inorganic carbon compounds (for example, carbonates) were already known before.​

• Thus, option (a) is factually related to organic chemistry but not the key significance of the 1828 synthesis, so it is incorrect as an answer to this question.​

Option (b) urea would be an ideal fertilizer

• Urea is indeed widely used today as a nitrogen-rich fertilizer, but this industrial-scale use and agronomic importance became clear much later with technological and agricultural developments.​

• Wöhler’s 1828 work is remembered not for proposing fertilizer usage but for demonstrating laboratory synthesis of an organic compound from inorganic materials and undermining vitalism.​

• Hence, option (b) is historically and conceptually off-target for what made the experiment significant in chemistry.​

Option (d) life cannot generate spontaneously from non-living matter

• The idea that life cannot arise spontaneously from non-living matter concerns spontaneous generation, which was addressed decades later by biologists like Louis Pasteur using microbiological experiments, not by Wöhler’s urea synthesis.​

• Wöhler’s work showed that an organic molecule (urea) could be synthesized from inorganic substances, but it did not demonstrate anything about the origin of living organisms or the impossibility of life arising from non-life.​

• Therefore, option (d) confuses the refutation of vitalism in organic chemistry with the refutation of spontaneous generation in biology, so it is incorrect.​

Concept summary: Wöhler, urea and the fall of vitalism

• Before 1828, organic compounds were believed to require a special life force, and many chemists thought they could not be produced from inorganic materials.​

• Wöhler’s synthesis of urea from inorganic salts such as ammonium cyanate provided direct evidence that at least one organic compound could be generated in the laboratory without any living tissue, initiating the shift from vitalism to modern organic chemistry.​

For exam purposes, always associate the Wöhler synthesis of urea with the conclusion that organic compounds can be synthesized without living organisms, corresponding to option (c) in this question.​