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Appendix III. Nomenclature of inorganic compounds: the rules

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Inorganic Chemistry
This chapter is in the book Inorganic Chemistry
Appendix IIINomenclature of inorganic compounds: the rulesIntroductionThe standards of nomenclature in chemistry are the rules published by theInternational Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) from time to time.Based on these rules, the universal adoption of an agreed chemical nomenclature is akey tool for communication in the chemical sciences, computer-based searching indatabases and regulatory purposes, such as those associated with health and safetyor commercial activity. The IUPAC provides recommendations on the nature and useof chemical nomenclature which are freely available at http://www.iupac.org-/publications/pac/ and http://www.chem.qmul.ac.uk/iupac/. An overall summary of chem-ical nomenclature can be found inPrinciples of Chemical Nomenclature(Leigh 2011).Further details can be found inNomenclature of Inorganic Chemistry, colloquiallyknown asThe Red Book(Connelly et al. 2005).It should be noted that many compounds may have non-systematic or semi-systematic names (some of which are not accepted by IUPAC for several reasons)and IUPAC rules allow more than one systematic name in many cases. IUPAC isworking towards identification of single names which are to be preferred for regula-tory purposes.In this appendix, the nomenclature types described are applicable to com-pounds, molecules and ions that do not contain carbon, and to many structuresthat do contain carbon.(i) Atomic symbols, mass, atomic number and so on of elementsThe approved symbols and names of the elements are given in Appendix I. Theatomic number, mass number, number of atoms and atomic charges are to be repre-sented as follows:Mass number:Left upper indexAtomic number: Left lower indexNumber of atoms: Right lower indexIonic charge:Right upper indexFor example,20080Hg22+represents the doubly charged ion containing two mercuryatoms each of which has mass number 200 and atomic number 80. The charge is tobe written as Hg22+, not Hg2+2.https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110727289-013
© 2021 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Munich/Boston

Appendix IIINomenclature of inorganic compounds: the rulesIntroductionThe standards of nomenclature in chemistry are the rules published by theInternational Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) from time to time.Based on these rules, the universal adoption of an agreed chemical nomenclature is akey tool for communication in the chemical sciences, computer-based searching indatabases and regulatory purposes, such as those associated with health and safetyor commercial activity. The IUPAC provides recommendations on the nature and useof chemical nomenclature which are freely available at http://www.iupac.org-/publications/pac/ and http://www.chem.qmul.ac.uk/iupac/. An overall summary of chem-ical nomenclature can be found inPrinciples of Chemical Nomenclature(Leigh 2011).Further details can be found inNomenclature of Inorganic Chemistry, colloquiallyknown asThe Red Book(Connelly et al. 2005).It should be noted that many compounds may have non-systematic or semi-systematic names (some of which are not accepted by IUPAC for several reasons)and IUPAC rules allow more than one systematic name in many cases. IUPAC isworking towards identification of single names which are to be preferred for regula-tory purposes.In this appendix, the nomenclature types described are applicable to com-pounds, molecules and ions that do not contain carbon, and to many structuresthat do contain carbon.(i) Atomic symbols, mass, atomic number and so on of elementsThe approved symbols and names of the elements are given in Appendix I. Theatomic number, mass number, number of atoms and atomic charges are to be repre-sented as follows:Mass number:Left upper indexAtomic number: Left lower indexNumber of atoms: Right lower indexIonic charge:Right upper indexFor example,20080Hg22+represents the doubly charged ion containing two mercuryatoms each of which has mass number 200 and atomic number 80. The charge is tobe written as Hg22+, not Hg2+2.https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110727289-013
© 2021 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Munich/Boston
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