KEY A.

Romero 2009
Nomenclature of Inorganic Compounds (KEY)
CHEM 1A

1. Name the following ionic compounds formed from simple (single atom) cations and anions:
a) MgCl2 magnesium chloride Rules:
Cation Anion
b) AlBr3 aluminum bromide
c) Na2S sodium sulfide element name (Roman Num.) root-ide
d) CuO copper (II) oxide
e) Fe2S3 iron (III) sulfide Positive charge of the metal ion
(only if the metal forms more than one cation)
f) BaI2 barium iodide
g) SnO2 tin (IV) oxide

2. Name the following ionic compounds containing polyatomic ions:

a) Na2SO4 sodium sulfate Rules:
b) Al(NO3)3 aluminum nitrate
Same as those for question # 1, except the
c) CoPO4 cobalt (III) phosphate polyatomic ions keep their names.
more
d) (NH4)2SO3 ammonium sulfite oxygens
Oxyanions: per- root -ate
e) CaCO3 calcium carbonate root -ate  base
root -ite less
f) NH4Cl ammonium chloride oxygens
hypo- root -ite
g) CuClO4 copper (I) perchlorate

Rules:
3. Name the following acids of polyatomic oxyanions:
Oxyanion Acid
a) H2SO4 sulfuric acid
per- root -ate  per- root -ic acid
b) HNO2 nitrous acid root -ate  root -ic acid
c) H3PO4 phosphoric acid root -ite  root -ous acid
hypo- root -ite  hypo- root -ous acid
d) H2SO3 sulfurous acid
e) HClO4 perchloric acid The word “acid” means that the oxyanion
is charge balanced with H+ ions.
f) HBrO3 bromic acid
g) H2C2O4 oxalic acid Note: sulfur and phosphorus add the
underlined syllable back to their root
Example: SO42– sulfate
H2SO4 sulfuric acid
4. Name the following acids of simple anions or Rule:
polyatomic anions that do not contain oxygen: hydro- root -ic acid
a) HCl hydrochloric acid The word “acid” means that the anion is
b) HF hydrofluoric acid charge balanced with H+ ions.
c) H2S hydrosulfuric acid The prefix “hydro-” indicates that the
d) HBr hydrobromic acid anion is NOT a polyatomic oxyanion and
that the acid is aqueous (dissolved in
e) HCN hydrocyanic acid water).

5. Name the following molecular compounds (non-metal bonded to a non-metal):

a) CO2 carbon dioxide
Rules:
b) N2O5 dinitrogen pentoxide Less electronegative More electronegative
tetraphosphorus decoxide element element
c) P4O10
d) N2O dinitrogen monoxide # - element name # - root-ide
e) SO2 sulfur dioxide
Use the numeric prefixes below to specify the
f) SF6 sulfur hexafluoride number of atoms of each element.

Do not use “mono-” before the first element.

If the root begins with a vowel, the last vowel of

Mixed-Up: the prefix is dropped (unless either vowel is an “i”)

6. Name the following compounds (these are a 1 = mono-

mixture of all of the types of compounds above, so think about what 2 = di-
type of compound each formula represents, and which rules apply): 3 = tri-
4 = tetra-
a) Al2O3 aluminum oxide 5 = penta-
6 = hexa-
b) KOH potassium hydroxide 7 = hepta-
c) HI hydroiodic acid 8 = octa-
9 = nona-
d) H2CO3 carbonic acid 10 = deca-
e) NO2 nitrogen dioxide
f) FeO iron (II) oxide
g) HClO hypochlorous acid
h) SrCl2 strontium chloride
i) NaHCO3 sodium hydrogen carbonate
j) (NH4)2CrO4 ammonium chromate
k) BrF5 bromine pentafluoride
Going the other way:
7. Determine the formula from each of the following names: Rules:
a) copper (II) chloride CuCl2
For ionic compounds and acids:
you need to combine sufficient
b) aluminum nitrite Al(NO2)3 numbers of cations and anions so that
the charge is balanced and the
resulting compound is neutral.
c) sulfur trioxide SO3
For molecular compounds (non-
metals bonded to non-metals): you
d) chloric acid HClO3 already know the subscript for each
element from the numeric prefixes.

e) hydroiodic acid HI

f) zinc oxide ZnO

g) calcium carbonate CaCO3

h) ammonium sulfate (NH4)2SO4

i) nitrous acid HNO2

j) hypophosphorous acid H3PO2

k) bromine pentafluoride BrF5

l) iron (III) sulfide Fe2S3

m) nitrogen triiodide NI3