The IUPAC nomenclature of inorganic chemistry is a systematic method of naming inorganic chemical compounds, as recommended by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC). The rules are commonly known as "The Red Book"[1] Ideally, every inorganic compound should have a name from which an unambiguous formula can be determined. There is also an IUPAC nomenclature of organic chemistry.
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The names "caffeine" and "3,7-dihydro-1,3,7-trimethyl-1H-purine-2,6-dione" both signify the same chemical. The systematic name encodes the structure and composition of the caffeine molecule in some detail, and provides an unambiguous reference to this compound, whereas the name "caffeine" just names it. These advantages make the systematic name far superior to the common name when absolute clarity and precision are required. However, for the sake of brevity, even professional chemists will use the non-systematic name almost all of the time, because caffeine is a well-known common chemical with a unique structure. Similarly, H2O is most often simply called water in English, though other chemical names do exist.
Positively charged ions are called cations and negatively charged ions are called anions. The cation is always named first. Ions can be metals or polyatomic ions. Therefore the name of the metal or positive polyatomic ion is followed by the name of the non-metal or negative polyatomic ion. The positive ion retains its element name whereas for a single non-metal anion the ending is changed to -ide.
Example: sodium chloride, potassium oxide, or calcium carbonate.
When the metal has more than one possible ionic charge or oxidation number the name becomes ambiguous. In these cases the oxidation number (the same as the charge) of the metal ion is represented by a Roman numeral in parentheses immediately following the metal ion name. For example in uranium(VI) fluoride the oxidation number of uranium is 6. Another example is the iron oxides. FeO is iron(II) oxide and Fe2O3 is iron(III) oxide.
An older system used prefixes and suffixes to indicate the oxidation number, according to the following scheme:
| Oxidation state | Cations and acids | Anions |
|---|---|---|
| Lowest | hypo- -ous | hypo- -ite |
| -ous | -ite | |
| -ic | -ate | |
| per- -ic | per- -ate | |
| Highest | hyper- -ic | hyper- -ate |
Thus the four oxyacids of chlorine are called hypochlorous acid (HOCl), chlorous acid (HOClO), chloric acid (HOClO2) and perchloric acid (HOClO3), and their respective conjugate bases are the hypochlorite, chlorite, chlorate and perchlorate ions. This system has partially fallen out of use, but survives in the common names of many chemical compounds: the modern literature contains few references to "ferric chloride" (instead calling it "iron(III) chloride"), but names like "potassium permanganate" (instead of "potassium manganate(VII)") and "sulfuric acid" abound.
An ionic compound is named by its cation followed by its anion. See polyatomic ions for a list of possible ions.
For cations that take on multiple charges, the charge is written using Roman numerals in parentheses immediately following the element name. For example, Cu(NO3)2 is copper(II) nitrate, because the charge of two nitrate ions (NO3−1) is 2 × −1 = −2, and since the net charge of the ionic compound must be zero, the Cu ion has a 2+ charge. This compound is therefore copper(II) nitrate. In the case of cations with a 4+ oxidation state, the acceptable format for the Roman numeral 4 is IV and not IIII.
The Roman numerals in fact show the oxidation number, but in simple ionic compounds (i.e., not metal complexes) this will always equal the ionic charge on the metal. For a simple overview see [1], for more details see selected pages from IUPAC rules for naming inorganic compounds.
Monatomic anions:
Hydrates are ionic compounds that have absorbed water. They are named as the ionic compound followed by a numerical prefix and -hydrate. The numerical prefixes used are listed below (see IUPAC numerical multiplier):
For example, CuSO4 · 5H2O is "copper(II) sulfate pentahydrate".
Inorganic molecular compounds are named with a prefix (see list above) before each element. The more electronegative element is written last and with an -ide suffix. For example, H2O (water) can be called dihydrogen monoxide. Organic molecules do not follow this rule. In addition, the prefix mono- is not used with the first element; for example, SO2 is sulfur dioxide, not "monosulfur dioxide". Sometimes prefixes are shortened when the ending vowel of the prefix "conflicts" with a starting vowel in the compound. This makes the name easier to pronounce; for example, CO is "carbon monoxide" (as opposed to "monooxide").
Acids are named by the anion they form when dissolved in water. If an acid forms an anion ending in ide, then its name is formed by adding the prefix hydro to the anion's name and replacing the ide with ic. Finally the word acid is appended. For example, hydrochloric acid forms a chloride anion. With sulfur, however, the whole word is kept instead of the root: i.e.: hydrosulfuric acid. Secondly, anions with an -ate suffix are formed when acids with an -ic suffix are dissolved, e.g. chloric acid (HClO3) dissociates into chlorate anions to form salts such as sodium chlorate (NaClO3); anions with an -ite suffix are formed when acids with an -ous suffix are dissolved in water, e.g. chlorous acid (HClO2) disassociates into chlorite anions to form salts such as sodium chlorite (NaClO2).