Chapter 6
Nomenclature of Inorganic Compounds

I don't expect you to know any common names, but you should be able to determine the systematic chemical (IUPAC) name from the formula (and vice versa) for a wide variety of ionic and covalent compounds.

Know what IUPAC stands for.

Know which elements occur naturally as diatomic molecules.

Ions

• Which has more electrons than protons? (anion or cation)
• Which has more protons than electrons? (anion or cation)
• Which elements form cations?
• Which elements form anions?
• How can you determine the charge on an ion from the periodic table?
• How can you determine the charge on an ion from the formula of an ionic compound? (Look at the anion first, using the periodic table.)
• How can you determine the charge on an ion from the name (Stock system) of an ionic compound?
• How do the electron configurations of Noble gases relate to the charge on an ion?
• Be able to predict the charge of the ion (and the number of electrons lost or gained by the atom to form the ion) for any element in Group IA-VIIA.

Know how to write formulas from the name of a compound.
Also, know how to determine the name from the formula.

Simple compounds

• Binary ionic compounds (one metal and one nonmetal).
• Binary covalent compounds (2 nonmetals).

Stock system

• Know how to determine which Roman numeral to use based on the molecular formula or the charge on the ion.
• Which metals have more than one possible ionic charge? (Everything except...)
• Which metals have only one possible ionic charge?
• The old names of metal ions (like ferric and cuprous) are nice to know, but not required for this course.

Polyatomic Ions

• Know the formulas for the "-ate" ions. (carbonate, nitrate, phosphate, sulfate, chlorate, arsenate, selenate, bromate, tellurate, iodate, chromate, manganate)
• Know how to determine the formulas of other ions from the formula for the "-ate" ion.
• "hypo-...-ite"
• "-ite"
• "-ate"
• "per-...-ate"
• Remember, a polyatomic ion acts just like a simple ion, it just has more atoms in it.

Acids

• Know the names of the common acids.
• Simple acids. (hydro-...-ic acid)
• Oxoacids. (hypo-...-ous acid, ...-ous acid, ...-ic acid, and per-...-ic acid)
  These correspond to the series of names for the polyatomic ions.

Return to the CHEM 151 Syllabus.
Return to the Schedule.
Go back to the study guide for Chapter 5 or Chapter 7.
Return to the Chem 151 main home page.

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