Chemical nomenclature

Common names – informal names given to compounds before their

composition were known (acetone, formic acid)

Systematic names – reveal the elements present and sometimes also

the arrangement of atoms

Names of cations

Monoatomic cations:

-name of the element plus ion Na+ sodium cation

-when an element can form more than one cation – use the oxidation number –
(the charge of the cation) – a Roman numeral in parentheses following the name
of the element Cu+ copper (I), Cu2+ copper (II)

Older systems – suffix – ous for lower charges – ic for higher charges
Iron (II) – ferrous ion iron (III) – ferric ion
Names of anions

Monoatomic anions – stem of the name of element and suffix –ide

Cl- chloride ion O2- oxide ion S2- sulfide ion
I- iodide ion Br- bromide ion F- fluoride ion

Polyatomic oxoanions

– if only one oxoanion of an element exists suffix –ate

CO32- carbonate ion

- two types of oxoanions exist:

Ion with larger number of O atoms – suffix –ate NO3- nitrate
Ion with smaller number of O atoms – suffix –ite NO2- nitrite

-more than two types of oxoanions

smallest no. of O atom – prefix –hypo to the –ite form
ClO- hypochlorite
largest no. of O atoms – prefix -per added to –ate form
ClO4- perchlorate
Hydrogen present – name begins with hydrogen

HS- hydrogen sulfide HCO3- hydrogen carbonate

Older system: anion with hydrogen –prefix –bi HCO3- bicarbonate

Two hydrogens present –dihydrogen anion

H2PO4- dihydrogen phosphate

Problems F31
Ionic compounds

First – name of the cation, next – name of the anion

add the oxidation number of a cation if more than one charge possible

NaCl sodium chloride NH4NO3 ammonium nitrate

CoCl2 (has Co2+) cobalt (II) chloride

CoCl3 (has Co3+) cobalt (III) chloride

Hydrates – crystals of ionic compounds with a definite number

of molecules of water
CuSO4 x 5H2O copper (II) sulfate pentahydrate

(Formula unit consists of 1 CuSO4 and 5H2O)

No water molecules - CuSO4 anhydrous copper (II) sulfate

Example D.1
Inorganic molecular compounds
- use Greek prefixes to indicate the number of atoms present
- element more to the right – second in the name with suffix –ide
-if both elements in the same group, the lower one is named first (SO2)

PCl3 phosphorus trichloride

CO carbon monoxide (exception to the rule)
NO2 nitrogen dioxide
N2O dinitrogen oxide

Phosphorus oxides: P treated as a metal

P4O6 phosphorus (III) oxide (P3+)4(O2-)6

For compounds with hydrogen and nonmetal – hydrogen is written first

HCl hydrogen chloride or prefix –hydro and suffix –ic

hydrochloric acid (if HCl in water)

H S hydrogen sulfide or hydrosulfuric acid

Oxoacid – an acidic molecular compound that contains oxygen

Oxoanion – formed by removal of hydrogen from oxoacid

-ic oxoacids -- -ate oxoanions

-ous oxoacids -- -ite oxoanions

Sulfuric acid (H2SO4) – sulfate ion (SO42-)

Sulfurous acid (H2SO3) – sulfite ion (SO32-)
Organic compounds
Hydrocarbons – compounds of hydrogen and carbon

Alkanes – hydrocarbons with single bonds

Alkenes – hydrocarbons with carbon-carbon double bonds

Aromatic hydrocarbons - benzene

An alcohol – contains –OH group

A carboxylic acid – contains –COOH group

A haloalkane – an alkane in which one or more hydrogen atoms
have been replaced by halogen atoms