Binary Compounds (Type I; Ionic)

Binaryioniccompoundscontainapositiveion(cation),alwayswrittenfirstinthe
formula,andanegativeion(anion).Inthenamingofthesecompounds,thefollowing
rulesapply:
1.Thecationisalwaysnamedfirstandtheanionsecond.
2.Amonatomic(meaningfromoneatom)cationtakesitsnamefromthenameofthe
element.Forexample,Na+iscalledsodiuminthenamesofcompoundscontainingthis
ion.
3.Amonatomicanionisnamedbytakingthefirstpartoftheelementnameandadding
ide.ThustheClioniscalledchloride.

Binary Compounds (Type II; Ionic)

Many metals can form more than one type of positive ion and thus form
more than one type of ionic compound with a given anion. For example,
the compound FeCl2 contains Fe2 ions, and the compound FeCl3
contains Fe3 ions. In cases such as these, the charge on the metal ion
must be specified.
The systematic names for these two iron compounds are iron(II)
chloride and iron(III) chloride, respectively, where the Roman numeral
indicates the charge of the cation.
The ion with the higher charge has a name ending in -ic, and the one
with the lower charge has a name ending in -ous.
Note that the use of a Roman numeral in a systematic name is required
only in cases in which more than one ionic compound forms between a
given pair of elements. This case most commonly occurs for
compounds containing transition metals, which often form more than
one cation.
Elements that form only one cation do not need to be identified by a
Roman numeral.

Ionic Compounds with Polyatomic Ions

These anions are called oxy- anions. When there are two members in
such a series, the name of the one with the smaller number of
oxygen atoms ends in -ite, and the name of the one with the larger
number ends in -atefor example, sulfite (SO32) and sulfate (SO42).
When more than two oxyanions make up a series, hypo- (less than)
and per- (more than) are used as prefixes to name the members of
the series with the fewest and the most oxygen atoms, respectively.

Binary Compounds (Type III; Covalent Contains Two Metals)

Binary covalent compounds are formed between two nonmetals.
Although these compounds do not contain ions, they are named very
similarly to binary ionic compounds.
In the naming of binary covalent compounds, the following rules apply:
1. The first element in the formula is named first, using the full element
name.
2. The second element is named as if it were an anion.
3. Prefixes are used to denote the numbers of atoms present. These
prefixes are given in Table 2.6.
4. The prefix mono- is never used for naming the first element. For
example, CO is called carbon monoxide, not monocarbon monoxide.

Acids
An acid can be viewed as a molecule with one or more H ions
attached to an anion. The rules for naming acids depend on whether
the anion contains oxygen.
If the anion does not contain oxygen, the acid is named with the
prefix hydro- and the suffix -ic.
When the anion contains oxygen, the acid name is formed from the
root name of the anion with a suffix of -ic or -ous. If the anion name
ends in -ate, the acid name ends with -ic (or sometimes -ric).