FALL 2017/2018

INORGANIC FORMULA WRITING AND

NOMENCLATURE

Faculty of Engineering and Technology at Sampoerna

University
General Course Learning Outcome

5.0 The student shall be able to write formulas and name common ionic and covalent substances.

Specific Learning outcome

5.1 Determine charges of ions from ionic formulas.

5.2 Write the name, formula, and charge for mono- and polyatomic ions. At a minimum, the
following ions should be covered: Li+, Na+, K+, Mg2+, Ca2+, Ba2+, Al3+, O2 , S2 , F , Cl , Br , I , Ag+,
Zn2+, Cu+, Cu2+, Fe2+, Fe3+, NH4+, H3O+, OH , SO42 , CO32 , HCO3 , PO43 , HPO42 , H2PO4 , and
NO3 .

5.3 Compose the formula and write the name for simple ionic and covalent compounds
 Metal form cations by losing one or more electrons
a) Group 1A and 2A metals form +1 and +2 ions, respectively ( for
example Li+ and Mg 2+) to achieve a noble gas configuration
b) Transition metals can form cations of more than one charge ( Fe2+
and Fe3+) by losing valence shell s and inner shell d electrons

 Reactive nonmetals form anions by gaining one or more electrons

to achieve a noble gas configuration.
a) Group 6 A nonmetals oxygen and sulfur form anions O2- and S2-.
b) Group 7 A elements (the halogens)form -1 ions ; for example , F-
and Cl-.

 Group 8A elements (the noble gases are unreactive)

 Ionic charges of main group elements can be predicted using the
group number and octet rule
 For 1A and 2A metals, cation charge = group number
 For non metals in group 5A, 6A and 7A , anion charge = 8 – (group
number)
Naming Ions
Naming Ions
Naming Binary Ions

 Positive ion takes the same name as the element

 Negative ion takes the first part of its name from the element and then adds the
ending -ide

Lithium Fluoride Calcium Bromide Aluminum Chloride

Naming Poly-atomics Ion
Composed of more than one atom are called polyatomic ions

Held together by covalent bonds

Charged because it contains a total number of electrons different from the total number of protons in
the combined atoms
 Oxoanions

Atom of a given element is combined with different numbers of oxygen atoms

prefix hypo- (meaning “less than”) and per- Prefix bi for presence of hydrogen
(meaning “more than”)
Formulas of Ionic Compounds

If the ions have the same charge, only one of each ion is needed

Gain or loss electron base on octed rule

Formulas of Ionic Compounds

If the ions have different charges, however, unequal numbers of anions and cations
must combine in order to have a net charge of zero
Formulas of Ionic Compounds

If two ions have different charges, the number of one ion is

equal to the charge on the other ion
Naming Binary Molecular Compounds

 Made of only two covalently bonded elements

 One of the elements in the compound is more electron-poor (cationlike), the

other element is more electron-rich (anionlike)

 Cationlike element takes the name of the element itself, the anionlike element
takes an -ide
Example:

Hydrogen Fluoride
Naming Binary Molecular Compounds
General cationlike vs anionlike trend on periodic table
 References:

1. James Brady, Neil Jespersen, Alison Hyslop. Chemistry. 7th edition . John Wiley & Sons Singapore Pte. Ltd. 2012

2. John E. McMurry, Robert C.Fay, Jill K. Robinson. Chemistry. 7th edition. Pearson Education, Inc. 2004

3. John Mc Murry, Mark Castellion, David S. Ballantine, Carl A. Hoeger, Virginia E. Peterson. Fundamentals
of General, Organic, and Biological Chemistry. 6th edition. Pearson Education, Inc. 1992