Page 1 of 1

Naming a compound

Posted: Sun Dec 06, 2020 9:30 pm
by Ruth Rosales 3D
Do you guys have any additional tips on naming compounds? I know the general rules for naming them, but I take too long to determine the name.

I would like to be faster in a test setting. So, if you guys have any shortcuts, I would love to hear (see) them.

Thank you.

Re: Naming a compound

Posted: Sun Dec 06, 2020 9:38 pm
by Natalie 3k
I also have a hard time naming the compounds, but I've heard that just practicing a lot and memorizing as well as you can can help in becoming faster at it.

Re: Naming a compound

Posted: Sun Dec 06, 2020 9:42 pm
by Melanie Lin 3E
Hi Ruth! I also had trouble with naming coordination compounds and I honestly don't have any shortcut methods. The way I have been learning is just LOTS of practice to get the rules in my head. Good luck!

Re: Naming a compound

Posted: Sun Dec 06, 2020 9:52 pm
by Colin Squire 3B
I kinda minimized the steps of naming the compound into a couple words if it helps. I wrote: 1. cation, 2. complex(ligands+transition metals), 3. anionic ligands, 4. prefixes, 5. ligands in alphabetical order, 6. transition metal with oxidation state, 7. anion. Just remember the subtle rules in between, like with a polydentate.

Re: Naming a compound

Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2020 8:22 pm
by Ruth Rosales 3D
Melanie Lin 3B wrote:Hi Ruth! I also had trouble with naming coordination compounds and I honestly don't have any shortcut methods. The way I have been learning is just LOTS of practice to get the rules in my head. Good luck!


It's nice to know that I am not the only one who struggles with this. Sometimes it's easy to feel like the only person falling behind. Hope that knowing that you are not the only one also brings you comfort.

Re: Naming a compound

Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2020 8:24 pm
by Ruth Rosales 3D
Colin Squire 3C wrote:I kinda minimized the steps of naming the compound into a couple words if it helps. I wrote: 1. cation, 2. complex(ligands+transition metals), 3. anionic ligands, 4. prefixes, 5. ligands in alphabetical order, 6. transition metal with oxidation state, 7. anion. Just remember the subtle rules in between, like with a polydentate.



This is really helpful, thank you!
Too bad I saw this after the final but it will come in handy in the future.

Re: Naming a compound

Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2020 8:24 pm
by 705383815
I usually start from the inside-out when naming a LOOOOOONG molecule like the ones we've encountered in the lectures and notes. There's also a lot of inductive reasoning involved when determining the charge number for metal cations.

Re: Naming a compound

Posted: Wed Dec 16, 2020 11:07 am
by Jaclyn Schwartz 1I
I usually start with the order the molecules will appear. Then the name of them. And then the oxidation number

Re: Naming a compound

Posted: Thu Dec 17, 2020 8:25 am
by America Ramirez 3H
I watched a lot of my organic chemistry tutor on youtube and I thought how he did it was very helpful. He basically said to start off with finding the oxidation number of the transitions metal by making it an x in a variable equation and have all the other molecules' charges added up and equal to zero. Then start naming the compound with the basic rule.
I hope this makes sense.

Re: Naming a compound

Posted: Thu Dec 17, 2020 9:59 am
by Nicole Bruno Dis 1B
This website gives a lot of great tips when naming compounds: https://chem.libretexts.org/Bookshelves ... istry_(Tro)/05%3A_Molecules_and_Compounds/5.06%3A_Nomenclature-_Naming_Compounds
Hope it helps!

Re: Naming a compound

Posted: Sun Oct 17, 2021 9:11 pm
by Maddy Trotter 3D
I think the most helpful way (although it seems tedious at the time) is doing flashcards with the most common compounds you come across. Also, memorizing the suffixes can help you a lot if you ever get stuck on a test