as with much of organic chemistry, organophosphorus chemistry had its beginnings in the nineteenth century.some early syntheses were performed by P.E. thenard and especially A.W. von hofmann,but is was the pioneering work in the laboratory of Karl Arnold August Michaelis at the University of Rostock in Germany, from 1874 to 1916, that led to the discovery and characterization, to the extent possible at that time, of some of the majer functional groups and of the methods for their synthesis that we still use today.