Exercise No.
7: Naming of
Compounds
Introduction
A. BINARY COMPOUNDS – are those compounds composed of only two
elements
RULE: Hydro + stem of the name of the non-metal + (-ic acid)
Example: HBr - Hydrobromic acid
HCl - Hydrochloric acid
Binary salts – metals + non-metals
a.) Metals with fixed oxidation numbers
RULE: Metal + stem name of the name of the non-metal + (-ide)
Example: NaCl - sodium chloride
MgI2 - magnesium iodide
b.) Metals with variable oxidation numbers
(I) Classical System
RULE: Stem of the latin name of metal + (-ic, for HIGHER
OXIDATION STATE; -ous, for LOWER OXIDATION STATE) +
stem of the name of the nonmetal + (-ide)
Example: FeCl2 - ferrous chloride
FeCl3 - ferric chloride
(II) Stock system [IUPAC (International Union of Pure & Applied
Chemistry) System
RULE: English Name of Metal (Roman numeral to indicate
oxidation number of metal) + stem of the name of the non-
metal + -ide
Example: FeCl2 - iron (II) chloride
FeCl3 - iron (III) chloride
36 CHEM 113.2 : General Organic and Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory
Compounds named like binary compounds:
a.) Ammonium (NH4+) compounds
Example: NH4Cl – ammonium chloride
b.) Cyanide (CN-1) compounds
Example: Fe(CN)2 – iron (II) cyanide
c.) Hydroxide (OH-) compounds
Example: Ca(OH)2 – calcium hydroxide
B. BINARY COMPOUNDS CONTAINING TWO NON-METALS
RULE: Name of the less electronegative element + name of the more
electronegative element + (-ide)
Note: Where more than one binary compound can be formed from two
elements, GREEK PREFIXES are used.
Greek prefixes
1 – mono 6 – hexa
2 – di 7 - hepta
3 – tri 8 – octa
4 – tetra 9 – nona
5 – penta 10 - deca
Examples:
NO – nitrogen monoxide N2O4 - dinitrogen tetroxide
NO2 – nitrogen dioxide N2O5 - dinitrogen pentoxide
N2O – dinitrogen monoxide N2O3 – dinitrogen trioxide
C. TERNARY COMPOUNDS – those compounds of three different elements,
the third one is commonly oxygen
1. Ternary Acid or oxyacid – acids that contain three different
elements, two of which are oxygen and hydrogen.
RULE: Stem of the name of the central element + (-ic, for compounds
with higher number of oxygen atoms; -ous for compounds with lower
number of oxygen atoms) + acid
Example: HNO3 – nitric acid HNO2 – nitrous acid
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Note: For four acides with the same central atom, the prefix per- is
used to denote one additional oxygen and the prefix hypo- to denote
one less oxygen.
Example: HClO4 – perchloric acid HClO2 – chlorous acid
HClO3 – chloric acid HClO - hypochlorous acid
2. Ternary salts – are formed when one or more of the hydrogen ions of
an acid is replaced by a cation (metal).
RULE: Metal + stem of the name of the central element + (-ate, is
suffix of the ternary acid is –ic; -ite, if suffix of the ternary acid is –
ous).
Example:
NaNO3 - sodium nitrate NaClO3 – sodium chlorate
NaClO2 - sodium chlorite NaNO2 – sodium nitrite
NaClO - sodium hypochlorite NaNO4 – sodium perchlorate
Learning Outcomes
1. To become familiar with and understand the nomenclature systems
used in naming chemical compounds.
2. To be able to name compounds correctly.
Guide questions and instructions on how to prepare
and submit the laboratory
Give the names of the following compounds:
1. LiH 11. H3BO3
2. SbO2 12. CaS2O3
3. CS2 13. Na2MoO4
4. SrO2 14. H2SO3
5. Mg(OH)2 15. MoF6
6. Cu2O 16. HgSO4
7. Cl2O7 17. P2O3
8. KBrO 18. NaClO4
9. Hg2I2 19. RbHSO4
10. Fe(ClO)2 20. H2Se
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No. DOPAC-IM-
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Additional Resources
References
J. G. Jansalin and A. Ramal, Chem 13 [General Organic and Inorganic Chemisty ] Laboratoty
Manual
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