Inorganic nomenclature Details, Meaning Inorganic nomenclature Article and Explanation Guide

Inorganic nomenclature Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description

Inorganic nomenclature is a systematic way of naming inorganic compounds.

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 posible ionic charge or oxidation number the name becomes ambiguous. In thes cases the oxidation number of the metal ion is represented by a Roman numeral in parentheses following the metal ion name. For example in uranium (VI) flouride the oxidation number of uranium is 6. However in this case the non IUPAC name uranium hexafluoride is often used. Another example is the iron oxides. FeO is iron (II) oxide and Fe₂O₃ is iron (III) oxide.

The system also is applicable to strictly nonmetal covalent compounds. For example consider the various nitrogen - oxygen compounds. N₂O is nitrogen (I) oxide. NO is nitrogen (II) oxide. N₂O₅ is nitrogen (V) oxide. These oxidation numbers are assignable even though no ions are formed.