Naming Compounds

• Binary Compounds
 Composed of two elements
• Binary Ionic Compounds
 Metal—nonmetal
• Binary Covalent Compounds
 Nonmetal—nonmetal

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 Naming Compounds

Common Simple Cations and Anions

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 Naming Compounds

Rules for Naming Ionic Compounds

1. The cation is always named first and the anion
second.
2. A simple cation takes its name from the name
of the element.
3. A simple anion is named by taking the first part
of the element name (the root) and adding –ide.

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 Naming Compounds

Binary Ionic Compounds

Examples:
KCl Potassium
chloride

MgBr2 Magnesium
bromide
CaO Calcium oxide

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 Naming Compounds

Exercise

What is the name of the compound SrBr2?

a) strontium bromine
b) sulfur bromide
c) strontium dibromide
d) Strontium bromide

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 Naming Compounds

Non-Metals and Non-Metals

Use Prefixes such as mono, di, tri, tetra, penta, hexa,

hepta, etc.

CO2 Carbon dioxide CO Carbon monoxide

PCl3 Phosphorus trichloride CCl4 Carbon
tetrachloride N2O5 Dinitrogen pentoxide
CS2 Carbon disulfide
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 Naming Compounds
Additional Prefixes
Prefixes Used to Indicate
Numbers in Chemical Names 9 nona-
10 deca-
11 undeca-
12 dodeca-
13 trideca-
14 tetradeca-
15 pentadec
a-
16 hexadeca-

17 heptadeca-
18 octadeca-
19 nonadeca-
20 icosa
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 Naming Compounds

Binary Covalent Compounds

Examples:
CO2 Carbon
dioxide

SF6 Sulfur hexafluoride

N2O Dinitrogen tetroxide

4

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 Naming Compounds

Exercise

What is the name of the compound SeO2?

a) selenium oxide
b) Selenium dioxide
c) selenium(II) oxide
d) selenium(IV) dioxide

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 Let’s Practice!
Naming Compounds
Name the following.
CaF2 Calcium Flouride
K2S Potassium Sulfide
OF2 Oxygen diflouride
SO2 Sulfur dioxide
SrS Strontium Sulfide
Lithium Bromide
LiBr

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 Naming Compounds

• Polyatomic ions are charged entities composed

of several atoms bound together.
• They have special names and must be
memorized.

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 Naming Compounds

Names of Common Polyatomic Ions

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 Naming Compounds

• Naming ionic compounds containing

polyatomic ions follows rules similar to those
for binary compounds.
 Ammonium acetate

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 Naming Compounds

Examples
NaOH Sodium hydroxide

Mg(NO3)2 Magnesium nitrate

(NH4)2SO Ammonium sulfate

4

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 Naming Compounds

Acids
• Acids can be recognized by the hydrogen
that appears first in the formula—HCl.
• Molecule with one or more H+ ions attached
to an anion.

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 Naming Compounds

Rules for Naming Acids

• If the anion does not contain oxygen, the
acid is named with the prefix hydro– and the
suffix –ic attached to the root name for the
element.
• Examples:
HCl Hydrochloric acid
HCN Hydrocyanic acid
H2S Hydrosulfuric acid

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 Naming Compounds

Acids That Do Not Contain Oxygen

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 Naming Compounds

Rules for Naming Acids

• If the anion contains oxygen:
 The suffix –ic is added to the root name if
the anion name ends in –ate.
• Examples:
HNO3 Nitric acid
H2SO4Sulfuric acid
HC2H3O2 Acetic
acid

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 Naming Compounds

Rules for Naming Acids

• If the anion contains oxygen:
 The suffix –ous is added to the root name
if the anion name ends in –ite.
• Examples:
HNO2 Nitrous acid
H2SO3 Sulfurous acid
HClO2 Chlorous
acid

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 Naming Compounds

Names of Common Polyatomic Ions

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 Naming Compounds

Some Oxygen-Containing Acids

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 Naming Compounds

Flowchart for Naming Acids

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 Naming Compounds

Exercise

Which of the following compounds is named

incorrectly?

a) KNO3 potassium nitrate

b) TiO2 titanium(II)
oxide
c) Sn(OH)
d) PBr5 4tin(IV) hydroxide
phosphorus pentabromide
e) H2SO sulfurous acid
3
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 Naming Compounds

Examples
• Sodium hydroxide
 NaOH
• Potassium carbonate
 K2CO3
• Sulfuric acid
 H2SO4
• Dinitrogen pentoxide
 N2O5

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 Naming Compounds

Lets Practice Some More!

HF
Na2CO3
H2CO3
KMnO4
H2S
NaOH

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 Naming Compounds

Lets Practice Some More!

HF Hydroflouric acid
Na2CO3 Sodium carbonate
H2CO3 Carbonic acid
KMnO4 Potassium
permanganate
Hydrogen sulfuric acid
H2S
NaOH Sodium hydroxide

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