APPENDIX B Naming and Writing Chemical Formula

I. Naming Chemical Formula

There are currently over 10 million known compounds. Fortunately, it is not necessary to
memorize their names. The IUPAC (International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry) devised a system
for naming chemical compounds and writing chemical formula. The established rules offer a useful way
of labeling numerous substances and provide a universal language among chemists.

1.1 Rules for Naming Binary Compounds

1. A binary compound is a chemical compound made up of two elements. The cation is always
named first and the anion second. For Example,

NaCl ; Na+ Cl-

2. Some cations or positively charged ions use the same name as that of the name of the element
given in the periodic table. For example:

sodium (Na) in its ion form Na1+ is also called sodium ion

calcium (Ca) in its ion form Ca2+ is called calcium ion

3. Some cations especially those which belong to the transition metals may have several valency of
oxidation state. In this case the one which has lower valency/oxidation state uses the suffix
ous and those with higher valency uses the suffix ic. For example:

copper (Cu) may be Cu1+ called cuprous or Cu2+ called cupric

iron (Fe) with a trivial name ferrum may be Fe2+ ferrous or Fe3+ ferric

4. A simple cation (obtained from a single atom or monoatomic) takes its name from the name of
the element. A simple anion (monoatomic) is named by taking the first part of the element
name (the root) and adding the letters ide.

Na+ = sodium + Cl- = chloride (chlorine + ide)

5. Write the name for the compound by combining the names of the ions.

sodium chloride
6. In some cases for simple cations, especially those which have several oxidation numbers, a
Roman numeral may be used to indicate the oxidation number (charge) of the metal cation. This
rule is called the stock system. For example:

FeCl3 Fe3+ iron(III) instead of ferric

Cl- chloride
FeCl3 iron(III) chloride

HgBr2 Hg2+ mercury(II) instead of mercuric

Br- bromide
HgBr2 mercury(II) bromide

7. In case of binary covalent compounds like gases, prefixes are used in order to indicate the
number of atoms in the chemical formula. For example:

CO2 mono is not used on C being the first atom in the formula*, but the two
atoms of O are indicated by the prefix di

CO2 = carbon dioxide

N2O since there are two atoms of N such that we use di as its prefix and
mono for one oxide ion, thus;

N2O = dinitrogen monoxide

CO carbon monoxide, meaning one atom of C and one atom of O

N2O5 dinitrogen pentoxide, 2 atoms of N and 5 atoms of O

CCl4 carbon tetrachloride

*Note: The prefix mono is not used for naming the first element.
1.2 Rules for Naming Ternary Compounds

Another type of compound is ternary compound, which contains polyatomic ions. A polyatomic
ion is a group of atoms with an electric charge. Naming ternary compounds has the following rules:

1. Nearly all polyatomic ions end with the letters ate or ite. (There are exceptions: cyanide (CN-),
hydroxide (OH-), and peroxide O22-, wherein ions end with ide. One might think of a binary
compound when you actually have a ternary compound).

X-n XO-n XO2-n XO3-n X04-n

(X-ide) (hypo-X-ite) (X-ite) (X-ate) (per-X-ate)
chloride hypochlorite chlorite chlorate perchlorate
(Cl-1) (ClO-) (ClO2-) (ClO3-) (ClO4-)
cyanide hypocyanite cyanite cyanate percyanate
(CN-) (CNO-) (CNO2-) (CNO3-) (CNO4-)
sulfide sulfite sulfate
- -
(S2-) (SO32-) (SO42-)

2. In cases when polyatomic anions contain hydrogen H at the beginning of the formula, the prefix
bi is added to the name of the ion.

HSO3- HSO4-
bisulfite bisulfate
HCO3-
bicarbonate
HPO32- HPO42-
biphosphite biphosphate

3. Follow the naming systems for binary compounds but do not change the name of the polyatomic
ions. Example,

NaClO3 Na1+ + ClO3-

sodium + chlorate NaClO3 = sodium chlorate

Al2 (SO4)3 Al+3 + SO42-

aluminum + sulfate Al2 (SO4)3 = aluminum sulfate

Fe(CN)3 Fe3+ + CN-

ferric + cyanide Fe(CN)3 = ferric cyanide
iron(III) cyanide

Ca(HSO4)2 Ca2 + HSO4- Ca(HSO4)2 = calcium bisulfate

calcium + bisulfate
1.3 Rules in Naming Hydrates

Hydrates are considered ionic compound, with a specific ratio of water molecules trapped
within the crystal structure.

1. Name the ionic compound.

2. Add the word hydrate with the Greek prefix corresponding to the number of water molecules
that is present with each unit of the ionic compound.

CuSO45H2O copper(II) sulfate pentahydrate

or pentahydrated copper(II) sulfate

1.4 Rules for Naming Acids

1. All acids begin with H (hydrogen). The names of most acids end with the word acid. There are
two types of acids: those that contain oxygen and those that do not.

2. Hydrochloric acid however, is used to name HCl when it is in aqueous form. If HCl is in the
gaseous form (or any halide for that matter), it is named as hydrogen chloride (or hydrogen
halide).

3. Follow the rule of changing the suffix of the polyatomic anions in an acid. For example, chlorine
and its anion forms:

Suffix of the anion suffix is changed to Name of the acid

chloride (Cl1-) hydro ____ ic hydrochloric acid
hypochlorite (ClO1-) hypo _____ ous hypochlorous acid
chlorite (ClO21-) ous chlorous acid
chlorate (ClO31-) ic chloric acid
perchlorate (ClO41-) per _____ ic perchloric acid

B. Writing Chemical Formula

There are procedures that can be followed in writing a chemical formula for a certain
compound. For example, consider writing the formula of sodium oxide.

1. Identify the symbols of the cation and anion. Write their symbol together with their respective
valence charge. The cation is placed on the left, anions are written on the right.

sodium = Na1+ oxide = O2- Na1+ O2-

 2. Balance the positive and negative charge. Since each sodium is 1+ and each oxide is 2-, then it
will take two Na+ to balance one oxide with a 2- so that:

Na1+(2) O2-(1) (1+)(2) + (-2)(1) = 0

3. Write the formula placing the subscripts right after the symbol they go with. The numbers inside
the parenthesis become the subscripts in the formula.

Na2O

4. Notice that the subscript 1 does not have to be written after the oxide symbol. It is understood
that the subscript is 1 if none is written.

5. Similarly, the subscripts are not written if both ions have the same value for their oxidation
number.

The same rule applies to formula writing with polyatomic ions. Using aluminum sulfate as an example:

1. Identify the symbols of the cation and anion. Write their symbols together with their respective
valence charge. The cation is placed on the left, anion is written on the right. Treat the
polyatomic ion as a single unit.

aluminum = Al 3+
sulfate = SO42- ; Al 3+ SO42-

2. Balance the positive and negative charges. Since each aluminum is 3+ and sulfate is 2-, then it
will take two 2 aluminum ions to balance 3 sulfates with a 2- so that:

Al3+ (2) SO42-(3) ; (+3)(2) + (-2)(3) = 0

3. Write the formula placing the subscripts right after the symbol they go with. The numbers inside
the parenthesis become the subscripts in the formula.

Al2 (SO4)3

4. Notice that a parenthesis is used to show that sulfate is treated as a single unit and separate the
subscript of the chemical formula with that of the ion.