FORMULA WRITING AND NAMING OF

COMPOUNDS
I. Binary Compounds - those consisting of two kinds of elements.

1. Compounds of two nonmetals – Begin with the name of the less electronegative
element followed by the name of the other element ending with the suffix –ide.
Greek prefixes are used to distinguish binary compounds with the same
elementary composition. The prefix mono is not used with the first element.

Greek Prefixes Number Greek Prefixes Number

Mono- 1 Hexa- 6
Di- 2 Hepta- 7
Tri- 3 Octa- 8
Tetra- 4 Nona- 9
Penta- 5 Deca- 10

Examples:

N2O - dinitrogen monoxide

NO - nitrogen monoxide
NO2 - nitrogen dioxide
N2O4 - dinitrogen tetroxide
PCl3 - phosphorus trichloride
PBr5 - phosphorus pentabromide
CO – carbon monoxide
CO2 – carbon dioxide

2. Acids - one element is hydrogen and the other is a nonmetal (acid-forming

element). For acids of this type, the prefix hydro- is added, and the -ide ending
is replaced by the -ic acid.

Examples:
Formula in gaseous form in aqueous form
HCl hydrogen chloride gas hydrochloric acid soln.
HBr hydrogen bromide gas hydrobromic acid soln.
H2S hydrogen sulfide gas hydrosulfuric acid soln.

3. Salts - made up of a metal and a nonmetal. Begin with the name of the metal
followed by the name of the non-metal ending with the suffix –ide.
 Examples: NaCl sodium chloride
AgBr silver bromide
Mg3N2 magnesium nitride

Note: Where the metal is of variable valence, either one of two systems maybe
used:

a. The Stock method - name the metal followed by a Roman Numeral in

parenthesis (to indicate the oxidation number of the metal) and finally,
add the name of the non-metal with the suffix -ide.

Examples: FeCl2 - Iron (II) chloride

FeCl3 - Iron (III) chloride

b. The classical method - uses suffixes -ous and -ic appended to the stem
of the Latin name of the metal to distinguish two compounds of the same
elements. The suffix -ous is used for compounds where the metal is in
the lower oxidation state and the suffix -ic where the metal is in its higher
oxidation state.

Examples: FeCl2 - ferrous chloride

FeCl3 - ferric chloride

Note: Compounds that may contain more than two elements but are
named like binary compounds.

a. Metallic hydroxides
Ca(OH)2 - calcium hydroxide

b. Ammonium compounds of the type:

NH4Cl, ammonium chloride

c. Cyanides
Fe(CN)2 - ferrous cyanide or Iron (II) cyanide

II. Ternary Compounds - those consisting of three different elements, the third
element is oxygen.
Due to the different valence numbers of the same element, a series of
compound with the same elementary composition is possible. Members of this
series are distinguish from each other on the basis of the amount of oxygen
present.

1. Ternary acid or oxy-acid - usually there are two ternary acids containing the
same elements. In such instances, the ending -ic and -ous (as suffix to the
name of the central element) are used to distinguish them. The -ous ending
 denoting the one with the lower number of oxygen atoms and -ic ending for
the one with more number of oxygen atoms. Furthermore, an –ous acid
always forms an -ite oxyanion or salt; an -ic acid always forms an -ate ion or
salt.

Examples: HNO2 - nitrous acid

HNO3 - nitric acid

Note: There are a few series of acids for which two names are not enough.
The prefix –per can be used to denote one additional oxygen the prefix
hypo- can be used to denote one less oxygen. Furthermore a per__ic
acid forms a per__ate ion or salt; a hypo__ous acid forms hypo__ite
ion or salt.

Examples: HClO - hypochlorous acid

HClO2 - chlorous acid
HClO3 - chloric acid
HClO4 - perchloric acid

2. Bases - they are named as hydroxides. For these metals with variable oxidation
states both the classical and the stock names are used.

Examples: NaOH - sodium hydroxide

Fe(OH)3 - Iron (II) hydroxide or ferric hydroxide
Sn(OH)4 - Tin (IV) hydroxide or stannic hydroxide

1. Ternary salts (salts of oxy-acids): The prefixes (if any) of the corresponding
acids from which they are derived are retained but the suffixes are changed.

Examples: NaNO3 - sodium nitrate

NaNO2 - sodium nitrite
NaClO - sodium hypochlorite
NaClO2 - sodium chlorite
NaClO3 - sodium chlorate
NaClO4 - sodium perchlorate

III. Acid salts - these are salts of polyprotic acids in which one or more hydrogen
atoms remain in the salt. To name, hydrogen is added to the name of the
oxyanion. Salts of this type are sometimes named using the prefix bi- or acid in
place of hydrogen.

Examples: NaHCO3 - sodium hydrogen carbonate or

sodium bicarbonate or
sodium acid carbonate
 Ca(HSO4)2 - calcium hydrogen sulfate or
calcium bisulfate or
calcium acid sulfate
Na2HPO4 - disodium hydrogen phosphate
NaH2PO4 - sodium dihydrogen phosphate
IV. Basic salts - contain oxide ion (O-2) or hydroxide (OH-1) along with another
anion.

Examples: BiOCl - bismuth oxide chloride or

bismuth oxychloride or
bismuthyl chloride

Co(OH)NO3 - cobalt (II) hydroxide nitrate or

cobalt (II) hydroxynitrate or
basic cobalt nitrate or
basic cobalt (II) nitrate

V. Mixed or Double Salts - they are salts containing two cations. The cation with
the lower charge is usually written and named first. Unlike simple salts of Na and
Ca, the number of each atom must be indicated by Greek prefixes (except mono).

Examples: KCaPO4 - potassium calcium phosphate

Na2Ca(SO4)2 - disodium calcium sulfate

VI. Miscellaneous Inorganic Syllables

1. iso - indicates an isometric form as in isocyanic acid (HNCO) as distinguish

from cyanic acid (HOCN).

2. meta - indicates in general a low hydrated form of an acid specifically an acid

resulting by the removal of 1 molecule of H2O from 1 molecule of an ortho-acid.
(metaphosphoric acid, HPO3)

3. ortho - indicates the highest hydrated form of an oxy-acid which is stable at

ordinary conditions as in (orthophosphoric acid, H3PO4,; orthocarbonic acid,
H4CO4; orthostannic acid, H4SnO4).

4. pyro - indicates loss of water; specifically refers to an acid which results from
the loss of a molecule of H2O from 2 molecules of an ortho- acid as in
pyrophosphoric acid H4P2O7 (2 H3PO4 less H2O).