Naming Compounds - High School Chemistry

Ionic chemical compounds are always named with the metal before the non-metal. The correct way to name sodium chloride would be , and not , because sodium is the metal and chloride is the non-metal.

All the other examples have the metal before the non-metal. The other answer choices correspond to potassium chloride, magnesium sulfate, hydrogen chloride (hydrochloric acid), and calcium fluoride.

Because iron has multiple oxidation states, we need to follow the cation with the roman numeral that signifies how many electrons each iron ion has donated to oxygen. Since oxygen gains two electrons in order to satisfy its octet, the three oxygens will accept a total of six electrons from two iron atoms. This means that each iron must donate three electrons, so that each atom donates electrons equally. As a result, the name of the ionic compound is iron(III) oxide.

Another acceptable name for the compound would be ferric oxide. The term "ferric" refers to iron(III) and the term "ferrous" refers to iron (II).

When naming covalent compounds, it is important to use a prefix before each element in order to designate how many atoms are in the compound. One key exception is when you only have one atom at the beginning of the compound (such as in this question). You will never start a covalent compound with "mono-". The prefix for five is "penta-", so the name of this covalent compound is phosphorus pentafluoride. The name indicates that there is one phosphorus atom bound to five fluorine atoms.

The molecule is a molecular compound because it contains two non-metals; therefore, it contains no ionic bonds. We use prefixes to describe the subscript for each element in molecular compounds. The molecule in this question has a subscript of two for each of the elements, so the prefix di- should be added to both sulfur and chlorine.

For molecular compounds, we change the ending of the final element to -ide, giving us the name "disulfur dichloride."

It is important to note that "chlorate" has a separate meaning, and refers to the complex ion .

is a molecular compound (a compound that contains two non-metals), so we must name it according to the rules for naming molecular compounds. These are different from the rules to name ionic compounds.

In molecular compounds we use prefixes (mono-, di-, tri- etc) at the beginning of each element to indicate the subscript for the element; however, we only use the prefix mono- for the second element in the compound. Mononitrogen dioxide is an incorrect answer choice because the compound name will never begin with mono-. We also need to change the ending of the last element in molecular compounds to -ide. Together, the name becomes "nitrogen dioxide."

Nitrate refers to the complex ion . Nitrogen oxide is simply . Nitrous acid is also known as hydrogen nitrite, and is formed from a hydrogen ion and a nitrite ion with an ionic bond: .

When naming molecular compounds, the rule is to put the element farthest to the left of the period table and closest to the bottom of the periodic table first.

For example, in sulfur dioxide, since sulfur and oxygen are both in group 6A, we put sulfur first since it is below oxygen in the group: . Similarly, in carbon dioxide we put carbon first because it is farther to the left in the period: .

is written incorrectly because nitrogen is farther left on the periodic table than chlorine. Written correctly, this compound would be dinitrogen dichloride: .

is a molecular compound, composed entirely of non-metallic elements with covalent bonds. Normally, these compounds follow a specific set of naming rules that would lead to this compound being called "nitrogen trihydride," however this particular compounds is an exception to normal naming rules.

is an example of a molecular compound that is given a non-systematic common name. The common name for is ammonia. Ammonium is incorrect, and refers to the complex ion .

Other exceptions to the naming rules include water () and methane ().

is an binary ionic compound because it contains one cation species and one anion species, connected by ionic bonds. Compounds with this structure should be named according to the rules for naming binary ionic compounds, which differ from the rules for naming molecular compounds. For these types of compounds the cation (usually a metal) should be listed first and the anion (non-metal) should be listed second with the suffix -_ide_added to the end.

Answer choices containing prefixes (mono-, di-, tri- etc) are incorrect because prefixes should only be used when naming molecular compounds.

Answer choices containing roman numerals are incorrect because roman numerals are only used to designate the charge of the cation when the cation is a transition metal, which are generally capable of multiple oxidation states and require the charge designation to differentiate. Magnesium is and alkaline earth metal, not a transition metal, and will always have a charge of positive two.

Using the proper naming conventions, refers to magnesium chloride.

We know that sodium oxide is a binary ionic compound because it contains one metal cation and one non-metal anion. To write the ionic formula we must write the cation first, followed by the anion, and make sure the net charge of the molecule is zero.

From the periodic table, we know that sodium (Na) has a charge of and oxygen (O) has a charge of . We know that the final charge on the molecule must be zero. To balance the charge, there must be two sodium atoms for every oxygen atom.

The other answer choices do not have a net charge of zero.

Since beryllium is a cation metal and phosphorus is a anion non-metal, they can be combined to create an ionic compound.

In ionic compounds, the cation is always written before the anion in the formula so answer choices with phosphorus as the first element ( and ) are incorrect.

Ionic compounds must have a net charge of zero. Beryllium is an alkaline earth metal and has a charge of , since it is a member of group 2. Phosphorus has a charge of since it is a member of group 15. To create a molecule with a net charge of zero there must be three beryllium ions for every two phosphorus ions.

is not a correct answer choice because the net charge of the molecule does no equal zero.

is the balanced ionic formula for beryllium phosphate, but contains oxygen as well as beryllium and phosphorus.

Ionic compounds are written with the cation (metal) first, followed by the anion (non-metal). All of the answer choices satisfy this requirement.

Next, we must look at the net charge on each molecule. All of the ionic compounds have a net charge of zero except for , which has a charge of as written.

The correct ionic formula for a compound containing these two elements is:

In binary ionic compounds, the cation is always written before the anion in the name and formula. This means that metal elements are typically followed by non-metal elements in ionic compounds. Examples are sodium chloride and calcium phosphide.

The prefix mono- is only used in molecular naming conventions, and does not apply to ionic compounds. In naming molecular compounds, this prefix will only be applied if the second compound in the formula has no subscript (only one atom per molecule). An example is bromine monochloride.

Binary ionic compounds contain only two elements, joined by ionic bonds. Polyatomic ions always contain multiple elements, and are often joined by covalent bonds. Ionic compounds that involve polyatomic ions always contain at least three elements and generally have both ionic and covalent bonds. These compounds cannot be considered binary.

Nitrogen monoxide, also known as nitric oxide or, differs from the other listed compounds in the group because it is a molecular compound (two non-metals). The elements nitrogen and oxygen both have high electronegativities and will create a covalent bond, sharing the electrons between the two nuclei.

All the other answer choices are ionic compounds, containing one cation (metal) and one anion (non-metal). The metals will have relatively low electronegativities, while the non-metals will have relatively high electronegativities. This difference will pull electrons away from the metal (forming a cation) and toward the non-metal (forming an anion). The result is an ionic bond.

Binary molecular compounds contain two non-metal elements joined by covalent bonds. Conventions for naming these compounds require that prefixes be used to denote the subscript of each element in the compound, telling the number of atoms in the name. The prefix for one, mono-, is only applied to the second element in the name, assuming that it has no subscript (one atom per molecule). The suffix -ide is attached to the second element in the compound to complete the name.

When determining which element should be first, you must reference the periodic table. Elements located more to the left and toward the bottom of the non-metals will appear first in the compound name. Carbon monoxide is a simple example of the leftmost element coming first, while bromine monochloride is an example of the bottommost element coming first.

The following is a list of prefixes used in naming molecular compounds:

One: mono-

Two: di-

Three: tri-

Four: tetra-

Five: penta-

Six: hexa-

Seven: hepta-

Eight: octa-

Nine: nona-

Ten: deca-

The given compound is the formula for gaseous hydrogen. Hydrogen atoms have only one valence electron and will form covalent bonds with other hydrogen atoms to fill the s orbital, generating a covalent bond. This tells us that it is a molecular bond, since no ionic bonds are present.

Binary compounds always contain two elements. This compound contains only one element, and cannot be considered binary. Instead, it is referred to as "diatomic," meaning that the molecule is composed of two atoms of the same element. Most diatomic molecules are gaseous, and include , , and (among others). The noble gases will not form diatomic particles.

Naming diatomic molecules is simple, since there is only one element involved. Most commonly, is simply named hydrogen or gaseous hydrogen. Keep this in mind when working with reactions. If a reaction occurs between nitrogen and oxygen, it is occurring between their diatomic molecules, not the individual atoms themselves.

In naming a compound you must look at what is being paired together. In this case a metal is bonding with a non-metal, thus the rules for naming metal compounds must be used. When naming a compound with a metal, the name of the metal goes first followed by the name of the anion. The name of the metal is cobalt and the anion is nitrogen. To name the anion of an atom drop the ending and add -ide, so the anion is named nitride. So far the name of this compound is cobalt nitride. However, cobalt is a metal that can have multiple charges so a Roman numeral is needed in the name. To figure out what Roman numeral is necessary you have to know the charge of the anion. To find the charge of the anion take the group number and subtract 8. Nitrogen is in group 5A so each nitride anion must be . All compounds are neutral unless otherwise indicated so the charge of all ions must total 0.

Each cobalt must have a positive 2 charge so that becomes the Roman numeral necessary to name this compound.

This compound is named cobalt(II) nitride.

The compound pairs a non-metal element with a non-metal element thus to name this compound prefixes must be used.

The following are prefixes used for non-metal to non-metal compounds

1- mono

2- di

3- tri

4- tetra

5- penta

6- hexa

7- hepta

8- octa

9- nona

10- deca

In naming a binary non-metal to non-metal compound the proper prefix goes in front of each name. The second element drops the ending and gets an -ide ending. If the second element starts with an o the a on the prefix can be dropped. There are 3 bromines and 8 oxygens, so the name becomes:

tribromine octoxide

consists of a ion bonded to a ion, which is a perchlorate ion. Hence, the name of the ion's corresponding acid would be perchloric acid.

The compound name is strontium chloride because this is an ionic compound with no transition metal. Remember: ionic compounds do not have prefixes ("di," "tri," or "penta"). When assigning oxidation numbers for the atoms of this molecule, we find that strontium has a charge of and chlorine has a charge of . Since this is a neutral molecule, two atoms of chlorine are needed to balance one atom of strontium. Since strontium is not a transition metal, it can only have a charge of , so there is no need to specify a charge in Roman numerals, which is the case for transition metal-containing compounds.