GENERAL CHEMISTRY: CHAPTER II

I. Chemical Formulas and Nomenclature (Naming of

Compounds)

 Molecular Formulas

 Shows the exact number of atoms of each element in the smallest unit
of a substance.
 The true formulas of molecules. The subscript numeral indicates the
number of atoms of an element present.

 Empirical Formulas

 Tells us which elements are present and the simplest whole-number

ratio of their atoms, but not necessarily the actual number of atoms in a
given molecule.
 The simplest chemical formulas; they are written by reducing the
subcripts in the molecular formulas to the smallest possible whole
numbers.
 Ionic Compounds

 The formulas of ionic compounds are usually the same as their empirical
formulas because ionic compounds do not consist of discrete molecular
units.

 For ionic compounds to be electrically neutral, the sum of the

charges on the cation and anion in each formula must be zero.

 If the changes on the cation and anion are numerically different,

we apply the following rule to make the formula electrically neutral;
the subscript of the cation is numerically equal to the charge on the
anion, and the subscript of the anion is numerically equal to the
charge on the cation.

 Cation is positively charge ion while Anion is negatively charge ion.

 Naming Compounds

 Organic Compounds

 Contain carbon, usually in combination with elements such as

hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and sulfur.
 Carbon is a very flexible element that could bond to any element.
 Examples are alkenes, alkanes, alkynes, aldehydes, alcohol, esthers,
ethers, ethane, methane etc.

 Inorganic Compounds

 Chemical compounds that lack carbon-hydrogen bonds, that is, a

compound that is not an organic compound.

Nomenclature

 General Rules:
1. The positive part which is either a metal, hydrogen or another
positively charged group is written first followed by the negative part
generally non-metals or radicals.
2. The charge of the positive part (positive ion) becomes the subscript
of the negative part (negative ion) and the charge of the negative part
becomes the subscript of the positive part (cross method)
3. The charges of the two parts after combining are usually omitted or
disregarded.
4. If the subscript is one(1), it is omitted or disregard
5. Polyatomic ions are enclosed in parenthesis if their subscripts are
more than one.
 Binary Ionic Compounds
 First give the name of the metallic element (which has always first in
the chemical formulas) and follow this with the name of the none
metallic element with its last one or two syllabus changed to the suffix
/ide/

 Transition metals tends to exhibit more than one oxidation states, they
have one or more possible charges. So, instead of /ide/, use numeral
roman and /ous/ and /ic/ suffixes in naming compounds. Use /ous/ for
lower charge. Use /ic/ for higher charge.
 Binary Covalent Compounds
 If there is only one atom of the first element in the formula, merely
name that element. If more than one atom, use one of the following
prefixes to indicate the number of atoms of that element present in the
chemical formula.
mono - 1 di - 2 tri - 3 tetra - 4 penta - 5
hexa - 6 hepta - 7 octa - 8 nona - 9 deca - 10

 Follow rule no. 1 in naming the second element with its one or two last
syllables changed to the suffix -ide. Use one of the prefixes listed in
Rule No. 1 before the name of the element to indicate the number of
atoms of that element in the chemical formula. In this case, the prefix
mono- is normally used to indicate that the formula contains only one
atom of the second element.
Ex: CO -> Carbon monoxide (o is omitted from mono)
N2O2 -> Dinitrogen pentoxide (a is omitted from penta)

 Ternary and Higher Ionic Compounds

 Inorganic Acids
 To indicate a compound that can act as an acid in an aqueous solution
the symbol for hydrogen usually appears first in the formula.

 Non-oxygen acids - contain one or more hydrogen atoms

combined with a simple nonmetal ion or a polyatomic negative ion
that does not contain oxygen.
Example: HCL, HCN

 Oxyacids - ternary compounds containing hydrogen, oxygen and

one other element.
Example: H2SO4, HNO3

 Non-oxygen Acids
 Attaching the prefix hyrdo- to the name of the negative ion.
 Replacing the last syllable of its name with the suffix /ic/ and adding
the word /acid/.
Hydro + root word of the negative ion + /ic/ acid
HCL -> Hydrochloric Acid
H2S -> Hydrosulfuric Acid
 Ternary Oxyacids
 Determine the negatively charged polyatomic ion in the acid. This is
done by writing out the polyatomic ion that follows the hydrogen ion or
ions.
 Then from the knowledge of the negatively charged ions, you should
be able to determine its charge and name, and then follow this rule;
a. If the ending of the negatively charge polyatomic ion is -ate,
replace -ate with -ic and add acid.
b. If the ending of the negatively charge polyatomic ion is -ite, replace
-ite with -ous and add the word acid.