I was looking at a wikipedia page about a particular chemical and it said something to the effect of “this was originally extracted from a fungus, but can now be made synthetically”. What does that actually mean? I can conceptualise the process of extracting chemicals from organic materials, but when something is created synthetically the chemists do…what exactly?
In: Chemistry
Chemists don’t usually make things all the way from their constituent elements but use off the shelf chemicals that are made from other chemicals that are made from …. that are made from things that are or can be made from simple components.
Ammonia is made from nitrogen in the atmosphere and hydrogen which can come from various sources. Salt water can be converted into sodium hydroxide and chlorine by electrical current. Sulfuric acid in steps from burning sulfur. A lot of organic materials are derived from the chemicals in crude oil because that is an easy source but those could be produced from more basic chemicals, although taking much more time and expense.
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