[2] The reaction can be demonstrated by starting with solutions of potassium cyanate and ammonium chloride which are mixed, heated and cooled again.
[4] The actual reaction taking place is a double displacement reaction to form ammonium cyanate: Ammonium cyanate decomposes to ammonia and cyanic acid which in turn react to produce urea: Complexation with oxalic acid drives this chemical equilibrium to completion.
Prior to the Wöhler synthesis, the work of John Dalton and Jöns Jacob Berzelius had already convinced chemists that organic and inorganic matter obey the same chemical laws.
It took until 1845 when Kolbe reported another inorganic – organic conversion (of carbon disulfide to acetic acid) before vitalism started to lose support.
A 2000 survey by historian Peter Ramberg found that 90% of chemical textbooks repeat some version of the Wöhler myth.