Sulfur allotropes nomenclature

There is unequalled confusion in the literature on the nomenclature of sulfur allotropes. Many criteria have been used to name the various forms and preparations of sulfur. As a result, there is no systematic nomenclature. There is not even one allotrope for which a single name is commonly used. Even worse, the same name frequently has been applied to two different forms. 

Many elements can give rise to more than one elementary substance. These may be substances containing assemblages of the same mono- or poly-atomic unit but arranged differently in the solid state (as with tin), or they may be assemblages of different polyatomic units (as with carbon, which forms diamond, graphite and the fullerenes, and with sulfur and oxygen). These different forms of the element are referred to as allotropes. Their common nomenclature is essentially trivial, but attempts have been made to develop systematic nomenclatures, especially for crystalline materials. These attempts are not wholly satisfactory. 

Table 18 Nomenclature of polymeric sulfur as found in the literature. The most frequent while ambiguous terms are quoted (high-pressure allotropes are omitted see Section 3 below)...

---