NOMENCLATURE
Inorganic Chemistry
Inorganic Nomenclature
Using different oxidation states
Potassium + oxygen
K O
K2O potassium oxide
Inorganics
Using the same oxidation states
Calcium + oxygen
Ca O
CaO calcium oxide
Inorganics
Using polyatomic ions
calcium + bromate
Ca(BrO3)2
Sample Problems
Beryllium iodide (beryllium + iodine)
BeI2
Calcium carbide (calcium + carbon)
Ca2C
More Problems
Aluminum sulfate
Al2(SO4)3
Ammonium hydroxide
NH4OH
Stock Formulas
Iron (III) Chloride
FeCl3
Tin (II) Nitride
Sn3N2
Naming Compounds
The nonmetal name in a BINARY COMPOUND
(two compounds – a metal and nonmetal bonded
ionically) has the nonmetal name end in “ide”.
BaBr2 barium bromide
Mg3N2 magnesium nitride
K2S potassium sulfide
Naming using Stock formulas
Fe(OH)2
Iron (II) hydroxide
CuSO4
Copper (II) sulfate
Practice Problems
Writing Formulas:
1, 2, 4, 5, 10, 15, 25, 31, 34, 43, 53, 70
Naming Compounds:
154, 160, 163, 166, 172, 179, 181,
201, 228, 234, 239, 280
Answers to Practice Problems
1. (NH4)3S
2. NaNO3
4. Al2(SO4)3
5. KNO3
10. CaF2
15. SnCl2
25. K3PO4
31. Mg(NO3)2
More Answers
34. Cu(OH)2
43. (NH3)3PO4
53. BaCrO4
70. Zn3(PO4)2
Naming Compound Answers
154. Potassium perchlorate
160. Iron (III) oxide
163. Potassium sulfate
166. Silver oxide
172. Aluminum sulfate
179. Sodium carbonate
181. Tin (IV) phosphate
201. Iron (III) chloride
And the rest:
228. Potassium dichromate
234. Copper (II) carbonate
239. Sodium cyanide
280. Copper (I) sulfide
Now to the additions:
An older system used in place of the Stock system
uses suffixes on the metal to indicate a lower or
higher oxidation state.
* metals with lower oxidation state: “ous” ending
* metals with higher oxidation state: “ic” ending
Metals use Latin names
Examples:
Iron (II) = ferrous Iron (III) = ferric
Copper (1) = cuprous copper (II) = cupric
Tin (II) = stannous tin (IV) = stannic
Lead (II) = plumbous lead (IV) = plumbic
Mercury (I) = mercurous Mercury (II) = mercuric
Chromium (II) = chromous chromium (III) chromic
Cobalt (II) = cobaltous cobalt (III) = cobaltic
Manganese (II) = manganous manganese (III) = manganaic
Binary Covalent Compounds
For binary compounds whose first element is a
nonmetal (covalent bonding) use the following
prefixes for the number of atoms. The first element
will have its normal ending, the second will end in
“ide”
1 = mono, 2 = di, 3 = tri, 4 = tetra, 5 = penta,
6 = hexa, 7 = hepta, 8 = octa, 9 = nona,
10 = deca, 11 = undeca, 12 = dodeca
Binary Covalent Examples:
SO2 sulfur dioxide
Cl2O7 dichlorine tetrachloride
P2O3 diphosphorus trioxide
P2O5 diphosphorus pentaoxide
Hydrogen Exceptions
For compounds with hydrogen in the middle use either
the “bi” prefix or the word “hydrogen”
Examples:
NaHSO4 sodium bisulfate or
sodium hydrogen sulfate
Ca(HSO4)2 calcium bisulfate or
calcium hydrogen sulfate
Another Problem
For phosphate salts with more than 1 type ion, one of
which is hydrogen, use the following format:
NaH2PO4 sodium dihydrogen phospate
K2HPO4 potassium monohydrogen phosphate
No Reduction Formulas
Certain formulas are not reduced: The most common
one is mercury (I) which is Hg2 2+
Example:
Mercury (I) nitrate = Hg2(NO3)2
Mercury (I) chloride = Hg2Cl2
Peroxide
Another example of no reduction is peroxide which is
O2 2-
hydrogen peroxide = H2O2
sodium peroxide = Na2O2
Hydrates
Some formulas indicate that water molecules are bound
to the molecule (or ion pair). These are called
“hydrated “ compounds.
Examples: MgCl2 • 6H20
magnesium chloride hexahydrate
Na2CrO4 • 4H2O
sodium chromate tetrahydrate
Inorganic Acids
Standard “ate” polyatomic ion acids with “ic”
HBrO3 Bromic acid
HClO3 Chloric acid
HNO3 Nitric acid
H3PO4 Phosphoric acid
H2SO4 Sulfuric acid
H2CO3 Carbonic acid
Removing all oxygens
When all oxygens are removed, add a “hydro” prefix
(along with “ic” ending)
HBrO3 Bromic acid HBrO Hydrobromic acid
HNO3 Nitric acid HNO Hydronitric acid
Adding an extra oxygen
When an extra oxygen is added, add a “per” prefix,
along with “ic” ending
H2CO3 carbonic acid H2CO4 percarbonic
acid
HClO3 chloric acid HClO4 perchloric acid
Taking 1 oxygen away
When 1 oxygen is taken away from the normal “ic”
ending formula, change “ic” to “ous”
H2SO4 sulfuric acid H2SO3 sulfurous acid
H3PO4 phosphoric acid
H3PO3 phosphorous acid
Taking 2 oxygens away
When 2 oxygens are taken away from normal “ic”
ending, change “ic” to “ous” and add a “hypo”
prefix”
HNO3 Nitric acid HNO hyponitrous acid
HClO3 chloric acid HClO hypochlorous acid
H3PO2 hypophosphorous acid
Organic acids
Organic acids use the functional group –COOH.
For a more complete explanation of the naming of
these acids:
http://home.att.net/~cat6a/org_chem-IX.htm
Final Homework Problems
3, 6, 16, 22, 44, 50, 55, 67, 89, 96,
100, 113, 120, 127, 135, 147, 150
161, 165, 175, 187, 204, 210, 223,
236, 243, 291, 306, 333, 341, 324
Show all work: give both name and formula
