Você está na página 1de 5

Naming Rules for Ions, Acids,

Ionic Crystals & Inorganic Compounds


(Copyright 2011, Francois G. Amar, All rights reserved)
In order to have some way of communicating about chemistry and chemicals it
is important that we have a system of nomenclature or naming. We will consider the
following categories at this point:
I. Atomic ions
Rule 1: The non-metals tend to gain electrons to form negative ions or anions
Rule 2: The metals tend to lose electrons to form positive ions or cations
Rule 3: We can use the atoms position relative to the noble gases (group 8A) to predict
its most common charge state if the atom is in row 1, 2, or 3 or is a main group
element (groups 1A,2A, 3A, 8A).
Rule 4: The transition metals form cations whose charges are less easy to predict. Some
transition metals form common ions of different charge states.
A. Cations of the main group which follow rules 2 and 3 include
1. The alkaline family (Li, Na, K, ) of group 1A which form singly charged positive ions since
by losing a single electron they achieve the electron configuration of a noble gas (in the
preceding row)
K(s) --> K+ + e- (K+ has the same electronic configuration as Ar)
2. The alkaline earth family (Be, Mg, Ca, ) of group 2A which form doubly charged positive
ions since by losing two electrons they achieve the electron configuration of the noble gas of the
preceding row.
Mg(s) --> Mg2+ + 2e- (compare Mg2+ to Ne)
3. Al3+ is the only really common ion of its family (group 3A)
B. Most of the common transition metal cations (rule 4) are formed in the 2+ state.
Here is a partial list:
Co2+, Cu2+ , Fe2+, Mn2+, Hg2+, Hg22+, Ni2+, Pb2+, Sn2+
Some special cases:

copper forms Cu1+ (or Cu+) as well as Cu2+

iron forms Fe3+ as well Fe2+


chromium forms Cr3+ more easily than Cr2+
note that mercury forms two kinds of 2+ ions but that one of the ions consists of 2
Hg atoms bonded together

NAMING: The atomic cations are named just like the neutral element followed by the word ion:
For example: K+ is the potassium ion
MULTIVALENT IONS: To distinguish the atomic ions Fe3+ from Fe2+ we name them iron(III)
ion and iron(II) ion, respectively, or Fe(III) ion and Fe(II). Similarly for copper(II) ion and
copper(I) ion. In an older method (see page 59 of Burdge), the ending -ic is used for the higher of
two possible charge states and -ous for the lower [this method is widely used by practicing (read
older) chemists but is not encouraged because it cant handle an atom with more than 2 common
charge states]
C. Anions - These are the simplest negative ions, consisting of a single atom of a given element
in its most common negative charge state. We only consider the non-metals in this naming
scheme. Use the root of the elements name and add -ide to get the name of the most common
anion.
Examples are:
(1st row): H- is the hydride ion
(2nd row): N3- is the nitride ion ; O2- is the oxide ion ; F- is the fluoride ion
(3rd row): P3- is the phosphide ion; S2- is the sulfide ion; Cl- is the chloride ion
II. Molecular ions
These are generally made up of a collection of nonmetal atoms bonded together but that are
stable with a net charge.
A.Cations -- The only significant positive molecular ion is NH4+, the ammonium ion
B. Anions
1. A few polyatomic anions have names that end in -ide like the atomic anions:
OH- is hydroxide, CN- is cyanide, O2 2- is peroxide
2. Oxyanions -- These are anions consisting of a non-metal atom such as carbon acting as a
center to which one or more oxygen atoms are bonded. A very common example is the carbonate
ion, CO32- which looks like this:

The table below shows a number of elements acting as a central atom with in some cases up to
four different common oxyanions (the chlorine series). One of these ions (which we shall
consider to be the most common) is named with the central atoms root and the ending -ate. The
oxyanion in the series with one less oxygen has the ending -ite. If the series continues down with
one less oxygen than this we use the prefix hypo- (short for less than). If the series has an
oxyanion with one more oxygen than the -ate ion we add the prefix per- (short for hyper or more
than).

MEMORIZE THE IONS IN THIS TABLE WHICH HAVE THE -ate ENDING

Central atom C

per-

hypo-

-ate

Cl

Mn

ClO4-

MnO4-

MnO3-

-ate CO32-

NO3-

PO43-

SO42-

ClO3-

-ite

NO2-

PO33-

SO32-

ClO2-

-ite

ClO-

Notice that in each column, the charge remains the same even as the number of oxygens bonded
to the central atom changes.
Also note that the six ions I've asked you to memorize can also help with other members of the
same family: the bromate ion is analogous to the chlorate ion for example.

III. Acids
An acid gives off or yields hydrogen ion, H+ when it is dissolved in water:
HCl (aq) -- > H+ (aq) + Cl- (aq)
The naming of the acids depends on the name of the corresponding anion.

Anions named with -ide:


chloride ion corresponds to hydrochloric acid
cyanide ion corresponds to hydrocyanic acid
Anions named with -ate and so forth (oxyanions)
Chlorate ion corresponds to chloric acid
Chlorite ion corresponds to chlorous acid
Now, what about perchlorate ion? perchloric acid
hypochlorite ion? hypochlorous acid
IV. Ionic compounds
Simply start with the name of the metal and add the name of the anion of the non-metal
The most common example is
NaCl (s) or sodium chloride.
How about BaSO4? barium sulfate
Or FeO? iron(II) oxide
See Table 2.9 on page 60 in Burdge for some more examples.
V. Binary molecular compounds
These are compounds made up of two non-metals. We write the element belonging to the lower
group number first, then the other element with the ending -ide and we use prefixes like mono-,
di-, tri- to say how many of each atom are in the compound. A more complete table of these
prefixes is given in Table 2.2 of Burdge on page 52.
Examples (more on page 52):
NO is nitrogen oxide
N2O is dinitrogen oxide
P2O5 is diphosphorus pentoxide

Você também pode gostar