Inorganic chemistry naming

The importance of metals has been long known but it is only in the past three decades that some of their specific roles have begun to be elucidated. It is perhaps not surprising that iron, the most naturally abundant of all metals, should play many important roles in nature. We shall present here one small aspect of this rapidly expanding area of inorganic chemistry, namely that of the functioning of iron when coordinated to porphyrins CL, 2, 3). Figure 2 shows the major heme proteins... 

Next, one should note that the same protocol that had been developed in the proposed nomenclature for "organic" compounds is readily applied to coordination compounds in inorganic chemistry namely, the monocyclic compound which I.U.P.A.C. calls dichloro[N,N-dimethyl-2,2 -thiobis(ethylamine) -S,N ]platinum (II) (Figure 20), may be named, without resorting to different prefixes for the number two (di- and bis-) and without the prime symbol, as ... 

Three systems are of primary importance in inorganic chemistry, namely compositional, substitutive and additive nomenclature they are described in more detail in Chapters IR-5, IR-6 and IR-7, respectively. Additive nomenclature is perhaps the most generally applicable in inorganic chemistry, but substitutive nomenclature may be applied in appropriate areas. These two systems require knowledge of the constitution (connectivity) of the compound or species being named. If only the stoichiometry or composition of a compound is known or to be communicated, compositional nomenclature is used. 

The lUPAC Commission on Nomenclature of Inorganic Chemistry continues its work, which is effectively open-ended. Guidance in the use of lUPAC rules (38) as well as explanations of their formulation (39) are available. A second volume on nomenclature of inorganic chemistry is in preparation it will be devoted to specialized areas. Some of the contents have had preliminary pubHcation in the journal Pure andJipplied Chemist, eg, "Names and Symbols of Transfermium Elements" in 1944. 

After completing a doctorate, he headed to Germany for a postdoctoral fellowship, then returned to Russia where he set about writing a book aimed at summarizing all of inorganic chemistry. It was while writing this book that he was forced to invent the organizing principle with which he is now invariably connected, namely the periodic system of the elements. 

Seven chemical reactions were identified from the chemistry syllabus. These chemical reactions were selected because they were frequently encountered during the 2-year chemistiy course and based on their importance in understanding concepts associated with three topics, namely, acids, bases and salts, metal reactivity series and inorganic chemistry qualitative analysis. The seven types of chemical reactions were combustion of reactive metals in air, chemical reactions between dilute acids and reactive metals, neutralisation reactions between strong acids and strong alkalis, neutralisation reactions between dilute acids and metal oxides, chemical reactions between dilute acids and metal carbonates, ionic precipitation reactions and metal ion displacement reactions. Although two of the chemical reactions involved oxidation and reduction, it was decided not to include the concept of redox in this study as students had only recently been introduced to ion-electron... 

The second edition of the well-known Red Book, the definitive recommendations of the lUPAC Commission on Nomenclature of Inorganic Chemistry, appeared in Pure Appl. Chem., 28, 1-110 (1971). It is also available separately as a hard-bound reprint. In this edition, the rules for naming organometallic compounds have been completely revised and extended, with introduction of the rj nomenclature for organic ligands. 

Huffman in the X-ray Molecular Structure Center. From 1992 to 1994 he joined the research group of Professor John D. Corbett at Iowa State University where he pursued synthetic solid-state chemistry research exploring structure/property relationships. In 1994 he joined the faculty of the Department of Chemistry at North Carolina State University where he is a full professor of Inorganic Chemistry pursuing synthetic, structural and mechanistic investigations in inorganic condensed matter. He has published more than 70 research papers and has several patented discoveries. He received an NSF CAREER award in 1995, was named a Cottrell Scholar of the Research Corporation in 1997, and received a Sigma Xi Research Award in 1999. 

Gas-phase electron diffraction is the technique of choice for many special problems of molecular structure determination. However, it has not become a mass-producing technique like X-ray crystallography or the quantum chemical calculations. With the proliferation of quantum chemical calculations some of the problems, namely, the accurate determination of relatively simple organic molecules that used to be solved by gas-phase electron diffraction have moved to the realm of these calculations. There are a wealth of other problems, mainly in inorganic chemistry, that still necessitate the application of this rather demanding but instructive and amazing approach. 

At the beginning of the twentieth century, the International Committee on Atomic Weights (ICAW) was formed. Although the ICAW did not set internationally approved names, a name with an atomic weight value in their table lent support for the adoption of that name by the chemical community. Twenty years later, the ICAW became a part of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (lUPAC) when it was formed. lUPAC was called the International Union of Chemistry in those early days. In 1949, the responsibility for acceptance of the name of a chemical element was given by lUPAC to its Commission on Nomenclature of Inorganic Chemistry (CNIC). 

This system is additive and was developed originally to name coordination compounds, although it can be used in other circumstances when appropriate. For a discussion, see the Nomenclature of Inorganic Chemistry, Chapter 10. The compound to be named is considered as a central atom together with its ligands, and the name is developed by assembling the individual names of the constituents. This system has also been applied to name oxoacids and the related anions. Coordination names for oxoanions are cited in the examples throughout the text, and they are presented in detail in Section 4.4.5 (p. 69). 

In inorganic chemistry, certain substituent groups retain trivial names that are still in general use. 

More complex devices have been developed that are capable of dealing with all cases. The reader is referred to the Nomenclature of Inorganic Chemistry, Chapter 10. The use of stereochemical descriptors in organic names and formulae is dealt with in Chapter 3, Section 3.8 (p. 21). 

Where the entities to be represented are not symmetrical because, for example, they contain atoms of different metals, an order of citation of metals must be established. In a formula, the priority is established by use of Table IV of the Nomenclature of Inorganic Chemistry (Table 3.1 of this book), the highest priority being assigned to the element reached last following the direction of the arrow. In the name, alphabetical order establishes the priority. 

For larger aggregations, a set of structural descriptors (see Table 4.7) is used. Homonuclear entities can have relatively simple names using these descriptors. The examples below give an indication of how names are arrived at. For more complex cases, the reader is referred to the Nomenclature of Inorganic Chemistry, p. 192. All the devices already discussed above can be called into use as necessary. 

The descriptors [rrf-(13)-A -cteo] and [C> -(141)-A -ctoo] are useful for precise designations, but simpler names are also available (see the Nomenclature of Inorganic Chemistry, p. 192). 

The names of unsaturated compounds are derived by using appropriate substitutive nomenclature rules. Note that trivial names are also allowed for particular polynuclear species, for example, N2H4, diazane, commonly known as hydrazine. For a discussion of names of hydrides in which elements exhibit non-standard bonding numbers, see the Nomenclature of Inorganic Chemistry, p. 85. Note that for the hydrides of Table 5.1 and their derivatives, substitutive names are generally preferred. 

The modified element name sila indicates replacement in the carbon skeleton, and similar treatment can be applied to other element names. The parent hydride names of Table 5.2 may all be adapted in this way and used in the same fashion as in the oxa-aza nomenclature of organic chemistry. In inorganic chemistry, a major use is in names of cyclic derivatives that have heteroelement atoms replacing carbon atoms in structures. It may be possible to name such species by Hantzsch-Widman procedures (see p. 77), and these should always be used when applicable. 

The Commission on the Nomenclature of Inorganic Chemistry is currently producing a further volume of the Nomenclature of Inorganic Chemistry, which will deal with more specialised aspects of inorganic nomenclature not currently treated in the 1990 version. For example, one chapter will be devoted to the nomenclature of nitrogen hydrides, another to the nomenclature of iso- and heteropolyanions and yet another to techniques and recommendations for abbreviations of names, especially ligand names. These chapters are innovative but also codify a great deal of established practice. 

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