Naming Covalent compounds - notes
Name___________________________Period____
Honors Chemistry
A covalent compound is a compound in which the atoms that are bonded share electrons rather than transfer
electrons from one to the other. While ionic compounds are usually formed when metals bond to nonmetals,
covalent compounds are formed when two nonmetals bond to each other.
Many covalent compounds have common names such as methane, CH3, ammonia, NH3 and water, H2O.
Rules:

Simple covalent compounds are generally named by using prefixes to indicate how many atoms of
each element are shown in the formula.


The ending of the last (most negative) element is changed to -ide.
The prefixes used are mono-, di-, tri-, tetra-, penta-, hexa-, and so
forth.
The mono- prefix is usually not used for the first element in the
formula.
The "o" and "a" endings of these prefixes are dropped when they
are attached to "oxide."
You also need to know which element to put first in the formulas
and names of these compounds. Generally, they are in the same
left-to-right order that they have on the periodic table, except that
you would have to squeeze hydrogen in between nitrogen and
oxygen



Name the following compounds:
NO* _________________________________________
N2O _________________________________________
NO2* _________________________________________
N2O3 _________________________________________
N2O4 _________________________________________
N2O5 _________________________________________
*Notice that the prefix “mono” is omitted in these cases
Write the formulas for the following compounds:
diphosphorus pentoxide
_________
diboron hexahydride __________
carbon tetrafluoride
_________
nitrogen tribromide __________
1
mono-
2
di-
3
tri-
4
tetra-
5
penta-
6
hexa-
7
hepta-
8
octa
9
Nana-