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CHAPTER 6

Inorganic

Nomenclature

6.1. INTRODUCTION
Naming and writing formulas for inorganic compounds are extremely important skills. For example, a
physician might prescribe barium sulfate for a patient in preparation for a stomach X-ray. If barium sulfite or
barium sulfide is given instead, the patient might die from barium poisoning. Such a seemingly small difference
in the name makes a very big difference in the properties! (Barium sulfate is too insoluble to be toxic.)
There is a vast variety of inorganic compounds, and the compounds are named according to varying systems
of nomenclature. The first job to do when you wish to name a compound is to determine which class it is in. Rules
for the major classes will be given in this chapter. Compounds that are rarely encountered in general chemistry
courses will not be covered.
Rules for writing formulas from names will also be presented. An outline of the classes that will be presented
is given in Table 6-1, and rules for naming compounds in the different classes are illustrated in Fig. 6-1. These
summaries are available if you want them, but they are not the only way to remember the various systems. Use
either one or the other if you wish, but not both.

Table 6-1 Nomenclature Divisions for Inorganic Compounds

Binary nonmetal-nonmetal compounds (Sec. 6.2)
Ionic compounds (Sec. 6.3)
Cations
Monatomic cations with constant charges
Monatomic cations with variable charges
Polyatomic cations
Anions
Monatomic anions
Oxyanions
Varying numbers of oxygen atoms
Special anions
Inorganic acids (Sec. 6.4)
Acid salts (Sec. 6.5)
Hydrates (Sec. 6.6)

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