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Naming Inorganic Compounds:  Try a new formula

Click here to see the Legend. See also: typical oxidation numbers

elemental name (III)
 space  ionic name with -ide suffix
  Roman numeral in brackets are there only if more than one ion of the used metal is possible. For example, Iron(II). Typically this is the case with Transition Metals.

The Roman numeral is equivalent to the oxidation number.		   No Greek Numerals needed if multiple instances of available.  
         

 

 

This is a Binary Ionic compound because it contains a metal. It is binary even if there are multiple instances of the same atom, for ex. HgI2, there are 3 intances but only two (binary) types of elements: Hg and I.

 

The metal name always goes first, as is, non metal goes second as an ion name.

Examples:

NaCl Sodium Chloride
MgO   Magnesium Oxide
CaF2   Calcium Fluoride
K2S   Potassium Sulfide
Fe2O3   Iron(III) Oxide
FeCl3   You must figure out the oxidation number of Fe in FeCl3 is +3.
Iron(III) Chloride
HgI2   Mercury(II) Iodide

 

  

Did you notice?

When is a transition metal, Roman numerals are used.
When has multiplicities, Greek numerals are used.

Greek and Roman numerals do not mix.

 

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