Rules for naming ionic and covalent inorganic compounds including the names of polyatomic ion's
1. Ionic compounds:
- When naming an ionic compound, the cation (positively charged ion) is named first followed by the anion (negatively charged ion).
- The name of the cation is simply the name of the element (e.g. sodium, magnesium) while the name of the anion is the root of the element with the suffix "-ide" added (e.g. chloride, oxide).
- For transition metal cations, Roman numerals are used to indicate the charge of the ion. For example, FeCl3 would be named iron(III) chloride.
2. Covalent compounds:
- Covalent compounds are named using prefixes to indicate the number of each type of atom in the molecule.
- The first element is named first and the second element is named with an "-ide" ending.
- The prefixes used to indicate the number of each atom are:
- 1: mono, 2: di, 3: tri, 4: tetra, 5: penta, 6: hexa, 7: hepta, 8: octa, 9: nona, 10: deca
3. Naming compounds with polyatomic ions:
- Polyatomic ions are groups of covalently bonded atoms that carry a charge. When naming compounds containing polyatomic ions, the name of the positive ion is listed first followed by the name of the negative ion.
- Some common polyatomic ions include sulfate (SO4^2-), nitrate (NO3^-), hydroxide (OH^-), and ammonium (NH4^+).
- When a compound contains a polyatomic ion, the name of the entire ion is retained in the final name of the compound. For example, NaOH is named sodium hydroxide.
By following these rules, you should be able to name both ionic and covalent inorganic compounds with or without polyatomic ions.