Simples and Compounds: Another Opinion
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by Tomislav Portada and Vladimir Stilinovic
Simples and Compounds: Another Opinion
by Tomislav Portada and Vladimir Stilinovic
Although we do agree with Giomini et al. about the necessity of making a clear-cut distinction between elements and elementary substances,1 in our opinion it is superfluous to introduce new terms for these concepts. We believe that the problem originates in the current IUPAC definition of “chemical element.”2 We suggest limiting the definition of chemical element to “A species of atoms; all atoms with the same number of protons in the atomic nucleus.”
We also suggest introducing “elementary substance” as a separate term defined as “A pure chemical substance composed of atoms of the same element.” The current problems would be circumvented by using these terms strictly according to the above-suggested definitions.
References
1 C. Giomini, M.E. Cardinali, and L. Cardellini, Chem. Int., 2005 (1), 18.
2 IUPAC: Compendium of Chemical Terminology (The Gold Book), 2nd edition, Blackwell Science, 1997.
Tomislav Portada <tportad@irb.hr> is a research assistant in the Laboratory of Supramolecular and Nucleoside Chemistry, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Ruder Boškovic Institute, in Zagreb, Croatia. Vladimir Stilinovic is a Ph. D. student from the Faculty of Science of the University of Zagreb.
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Articles in the same Issue
- Masthead
- From the Editor
- Contents
- Achieving Important Goals with the Right Combination of “Hard Cash” and Volunteers
- Advancement of Harmonized Approaches for Crop Protection Chemistry in Latin America
- Challenges for Chemists
- An Update on the Kilogram
- Lida Schoen Made Knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau
- Address to Younger Chemists
- In Memorium: Jacques-Emile Dubois (1920–2005)
- Emerging Issues in Developing Countries
- Simples and Compounds: Another Opinion
- Erratum: Wolfram vs. Tungsten
- Terminology for Biomedical (Therapeutic) Polymers
- Teaching School Children About Pesticides and Health
- Towards Defining Materials Chemistry
- Thermodynamics of Ionic Liquids, Ionic Liquid Mixtures, and the Development of Standardized Systems
- Ionic Liquids Database
- Future Plans
- For Further Information
- Chemical Structure and Physical Properties of Cyclic Olefin Copolymers (IUPAC Technical Report)
- Polyaniline: Thin Films and Colloidal Dispersions (IUPAC Technical Report)
- Terminology in Soil Sampling (IUPAC Recommendations 2005)
- Numbering of Fullerenes (IUPAC Recommendations 2005)
- Gaseous Fluorides of Boron, Nitrogen, Sulfur, Carbon, and Silicon and Solid Xenon Fluorides in All Solvents
- Polymers in Novel Applications
- Bio-Based Polymers: Recent Progess
- Macromolecules
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- Carbohydrates
- Polymer-Based Materials
- Fine Chemistry and Novel Materials
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- Humic Science
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- Photochemistry
- Organic Synthesis
- Macromolecules
- Chemistry and Chemical Engineering
- Mark Your Calendar
