Chemical Nomenclature
Binary Compounds
• Simplest compounds; made up of two
kinds of atoms or monoatomic ions (for an
ionic compound)
• For binary ionic compounds:
– The positive metal is first, followed by the
negative non-metal
– Name of metal is stated in full and non-metal
has an –ide suffix
• Write chemical formula for aluminum
chloride:
Al
3
Al1Cl3
Cl
1

AlCl3
• Name the following chemical: Li2O
lithium oxide
Try:
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
BaS
magnesium nitride
sodium bromide
Al2O3
calcium chloride
BN
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
barium sulfide
Mg3N2
NaBr
aluminum oxide
CaCl2
boron nitride
• Some metals have more than one charge. They
are known to be multivalent.
Metal
Ion
IUPAC Name
iron
Fe2+, Fe3+
iron(II), iron(III)
copper
Cu+, Cu2+
copper(I), copper(II)
tin
Sn2+, Sn4+
tin(II), tin(IV)
lead
Pb2+, Pb4+
lead(II), lead(IV)
cobalt
Co2+, Co4+
cobalt(II), cobalt(IV)
gold
Au+, Au2+
gold(I), gold(II)
mercury
Hg+, Hg2+
mercury(I), mercury(II)
Write the IUPAC name for:
a) SnCl4
a)tin(IV) chloride
b)gold(I) bromide
b) AuBr
c)lead(IV) oxide
c) PbO2
Write the chemical formula for:
a) mercury(II) oxide a)HgO
b) copper(II) sulfide b)CuS
c) iron(III) chloride c)FeCl3
Polyatomic Ions
• Ions that have more than 2 atoms present
• Eg. ClO3-, SO42-, PO43Know the following 10 for test:
acetate (CH3COO-)
nitrate (NO3-)
ammonium (NH4+)
nitrite (NO2-)
carbonate (CO32-)
phosphate (PO43-)
chlorate (ClO3-)
sulfate (SO42-)
hydroxide (OH-)
sulfite (SO32-)
Try:
a)hydrogen chlorate
b)PbSO4
c)iron(III) nitrate
d)magnesium sulfite
e)Ca3(PO4)2
f) NaNO2
g)lithium carbonate
a) HClO3
b) lead(II) sulfate
c) Fe(NO3)3
d) MgSO3
e) calcium
phosphate
f) sodium nitrite
g) Li2CO3
Molecular Compounds
• Binary compound consisting of two non-metals
• Use IUPAC prefixes for naming (eg. mono, di, tri,
etc)  p. 97
– Do not use “mono” for first part of binary
compound name, only for 2nd part!
PCl3
phosphorus trichloride
(no “mono” for phosphorus)
P2S5
diphosphorus pentasulfide
Try:
a) sulfur trioxide
b) P4O7
c) dinitrogen trioxide
d) NCl3
e) CCl4
a) SO3
b) tetraphosphorus
heptoxide
c) N2O3
d) nitrogen trichloride
e) carbon tetrachloride
Acids
• All acids start with H (e.g. HCl, H2SO4)
• TWO acids types exist: a) binary acids and
b) oxyacids
– Binary: H + non-metal. E.g. HCl
– Oxyacids: H + polyatomic ion. E.g. H2SO4
• Each have different naming rules.
Naming Binary Acids – depends on
the state of the acid
• If it’s NOT in aqueous state [eg. (g)]
– hydrogen + non-metal
hydrogen chloride
– HCl(g)
• If it is aqueous (aq):
– hydro + non-metal root + ic + acid
– HCl(aq) hydrochloric acid
Naming Oxyacids – does not depend
on the state
1) Name the polyatomic ion
2) Replace -ate with -ic, -ite with -ous
3) Change non-metal root for pronunciation
4) add “acid” to the name
Eg. H2SO4
H2SO3
sulfuric acid
sulfurous acid
Try:
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
hydrobromic acid
HNO3
nitrous acid
HF (g)
H3PO4
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
HBr (aq)
nitric acid
HNO2
hydrogen fluoride
phosphoric acid
Bases
For this course, we will limit ourselves to
the hydroxides (OH-):
Formula
IUPAC Name
NaOH
sodium hydroxide
Ba(OH)2
barium hydroxide
KOH
potassium hydroxide
Ca(OH) 2
calcium hydroxide
Etc...