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The IUPAC nomenclature of inorganic chemistry is a systematic way of naming inorganic chemical compounds as recommended by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC). Ideally, every inorganic compound should have a name from which an unambiguous formula can be determined. There is also a IUPAC nomenclature of organic chemistry.
The names "caffeine" and "3,7-dihydro-1,3,7-trimethyl-1H-purine-2,6-dione" both describe the same chemical. The systematic name encodes the structure and composition of the caffeine molecule in some detail, and provides an unambiguous reference to this compound, whereas the name "caffeine" just names it. These advantages make the systematic name far superior to the common name when absolute clarity and precision is required. However, even professional chemists will use the non-systematic name almost all of the time, because caffeine is a well-known common chemical with a unique structure. Similarly, the chemical water is always known as such, never as "dihydrogen monoxide."
- Single atom anions are named with an -ide suffix: for example, H− is hydride.
- Compounds with a positive ion (cation), the name of the compound is simply the cation's name (usually the same as the element's), followed by the anion. For example, NaCl is sodium chloride, and CaF2 is calcium fluoride.
- Cations able to take on more than one positive charge are labeled with Roman numerals in parentheses. For example, Cu+ is copper(I), Cu2+ is copper(II). An older, deprecated notation is to append -ous or -ic to the root of the Latin name to name ions with a lesser or greater charge. Under this naming convention, Cu+ is cuprous and Cu2+ is cupric. For naming metal complexes see the page on complex (chemistry).
- Oxyanions (polyatomic anions containing oxygen) are named with -ite or -ate, for a lesser or greater quantity of oxygen. For example, NO2− is nitrite, while NO3− is nitrate. If four oxyanions are possible, the prefixes hypo- and per- are used: Hypochlorite is ClO−, Perchlorate is ClO4−,
- The prefix bi- is a deprecated way of indicating the presence of a single hydrogen ion, as in "sodium bicarbonate" (NaHCO3). The modern method specifically names the hydrogen atom. Thus, NaHCO3 would be pronounced "sodium hydrogen carbonate".
Positively charged ions are called cations and negatively charged ions are called anions. The cation is always named first. Ions can be metals or polyatomic ions. Therefore the name of the metal or positive polyatomic ion is followed by the name of the non-metal or negative polyatomic ion. The positive ion retains its element name whereas for a single non-metal anion the ending is changed to -ide.
Example: sodium chloride, potassium oxide, or calcium carbonate.
When the metal has more than one possible ionic charge or oxidation number the name becomes ambiguous. In these cases the oxidation number of the metal ion is represented by a Roman numeral in parentheses immediately following the metal ion name. For example in uranium(VI) fluoride the oxidation number of uranium is 6. Another example is the iron oxides. FeO is iron(II) oxide and Fe2O3 is iron(III) oxide.
An older system used prefixes and suffixes to indicate the oxidation number, according to the following scheme:
| Oxidation state | Cations and acids | Anions |
|---|---|---|
| Lowest | hypo- -ous | hypo- -ite |
| -ous | -ite | |
| -ic | -ate | |
| Highest | per- -ic | per- -ate |
Thus the four oxyacids of chlorine are called hypochlorous acid (HOCl), chlorous acid (HOClO), chloric acid (HOClO2) and perchloric acid (HOClO3), and their respective conjugate bases are the hypochlorite, chlorite, chlorate and perchlorate ions. This system has partially fallen out of use, but survives in the common names of many chemical compounds: the modern literature contains few references to "ferric chloride" (instead calling it "iron(III) chloride"), but names like "potassium permanganate" (instead of "potassium manganate(VII)") and "sulfuric acid" abound.
Naming simple ionic compounds
An ionic compound is named by its cation followed by its anion. See polyatomic ions for a list of possible ions.
For cations that take on multiple charges, the charge is written using Roman numerals in parentheses immediately following the element name) For example, Cu(NO3)2 is copper(II) nitrate, because the charge of two nitrate ions is 2 × −1 = −2, and since the net charge of the ionic compound must be zero, the Cu ion has a 2+ charge. This compound is therefore copper(II) nitrate.
The Roman numerals in fact show the oxidation number, but in simple ionic compounds (i.e., not metal complexes) this will always equal the ionic charge on the metal. For a simple overview see for more details see [http://www2.potsdam.edu/walkerma/inorg_naming.pdf selected pages from IUPAC rules for naming inorganic compounds.
List of common ion names
Monatomic anions:
- NH4+ ammonium
- H3O+ hydronium
- NO3− nitrate
- NO2− nitrite
- ClO− hypochlorite
- ClO2− chlorite
- ClO3− chlorate
- ClO4− perchlorate
- SO32− sulfite
- SO42− sulfate
- HSO3− hydrogen sulfite (or bisulfite)
- HCO3− hydrogen carbonate (or bicarbonate)
- CO32− carbonate
- PO43− phosphate
- HPO42− hydrogen phosphate
- H2PO4− dihydrogen phosphate
- CrO42− chromate
- Cr2O72− dichromate
- BO33− orthoborate
- AsO43− arsenate
- C2O42− oxalate
- CN− cyanide
- SCN− thiocyanate
- MnO4− permanganate
Naming hydrates
Hydrates are ionic compounds that have absorbed water. They are named as the ionic compound followed by a numerical prefix and -hydrate. The numerical prefixes used are listed below: For example, CuSO4 · 5H2O is "copper(II) sulfate pentahydrate".
Naming molecular compounds
Inorganic molecular compounds are named with a prefix (see list above) before each element. The more electronegative element is written last and with an -ide suffix. For example, CO2 is carbon dioxide, and CCl4 is carbon tetrachloride. There are some exceptions to the rule, however. The prefix mono- is not used with the first element; for example, CO2 is carbon dioxide, not "monocarbon dioxide". Sometimes prefixes are shortened when the ending vowel of the prefix "conflicts" with a starting vowel in the compound. This makes the compound easier to speak; for example, CO is "carbon monoxide" (as opposed to "monooxide").
Naming acids
Acids are named by the anion they form when dissolved in water. If an acid forms an anion named ___ide, it is named hydro___ic acid. For example, hydrochloric acid forms a chloride anion. Secondly, anions with an -ate suffix are formed when acids with an -ic suffix are dissolved -- chloric acid th an -ite suffix are formed when acids with an -ous suffix are dissolved in water; for example chlorous acid disassociates into chlorite anions.
Compositional nomenclature
Substitutive nomenclature
| BH3 | borane | CH4 | methane | NH3 | azane | H2O | oxidane | HF | fluorane |
| AlH3 | alumane | SiH4 | silane | PH3 | phosphane | H2S | sulfane | HCl | chlorane |
| GaH3 | gallane | GeH4 | germane | AsH3 | arsane | H2Se | selane | HBr | bromane |
| InH3 | indigane | SnH4 | stannane | SbH3 | stibane | H2Te | tellane | HI | iodane |
| TlH3 | thallane | PbH4 | plumbane | BiH3 | bismuthane | H2Po | polane | HAt | astatane |
See also
- IUPAC nomenclature
- IUPAC nomenclature of organic chemistry
- List of inorganic compounds
- Water of Crystallization
References
- Nomenclature of Inorganic Chemistry, Recommendations 1990, Oxford:Blackwell Scientific Publications. (1990)
External links
- IUPAC Provisional Recommendations for the Nomenclature of Inorganic Chemistry (2004) (online draft of an updated version of the "Red Book")
- Bibliography of IUPAC Recommendations on Inorganic Nomenclature (last updated 2004-02-17)
- ChemTeam Highschool Tutorial
- PDF file SUNY Potsdam.edu
- Nomenclature Tutorial
"IUPAC nomenclature of inorganic chemistry"