notes on nomenclature
Universiry of South Florid. Tampo
KURT LOENING ROY M. ADAMS
33620
Chemical Ab$trocts Service Columbus, Ohio 4321 0 Geneva College Beaver Folk. Pcnnrylvonia 1501 0
Names tor Elements While systematic nomenclature is used for most inorganic compounds, there is very little system for the names of the elements (I). The only statement of policy by the IUPAC Commission on the Nomenclature of Inorganic Cbemistrv is that "anv new metallic elements should be given names ending in -ium" and "all new elements shall have 2-letter symbols" (2). (Presumably the name of any newly discovered halogen would end in -ine.) There have been a few attempts to systematize the names for elements. Jensen (3) has advocated changes in practice in order to obtain less departure in individual languages from a truly international language. He proposed the following changes: (1) use of Latin names for the elements known from antiquity (Au, Ag, Cu, Hg, Fe, Pb, Sn, S); (2) use of hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen instead of natiooal names;l (3) abolition of duplicate names for a n element (largely accomplished except for tungsten-wolfram); (4) abolition of phonetic spelling in various languages to obtain more uniformity. Wolfenden (4) urged that all metallic elements have names ending consistently in -ium and listed the changes necessary to obtain the least, moderate, and total consistency. In order to remove a notable inconsistencv he would chanee the name of helium to helion. ~buttlewortb ( 5 ) suppoked Wolfenden but pointed out the need to clearlv define the difference between a metal and a nonmetal. i-le suggested that Ge, Se, and Te also receive names ending in -on. Rothery (fi) went even further and advocated the acceptance of atomic number as the international name of an element: E.l, E.92, etc. He was concerned by the necessity to become familiar with the names of over 100 elements and contended that Latin was virtually unknown outside Western Europe. According to this proposal some familiar formulas would become
H20 12,s H 8 0 , 1,16,M4
HCI
1,17
C6H6
Trivial names for the elements in the national languages would arise only in a secondaly capacity. Over the years it has become increasingly evident that there is need for identifying elements of specific atomic 'These changes have been made in the German translation of the revised IUPAC Rules.
numbers by both name and symbol even before such elements may be discovered. The number of publications about some undiscovered elements actually exceeds that for some of the known elements. Indexing published articles about such elements (albeit largely theoretical or speculative) under the heading Element 116, etc. is not at all satisfactory. Although the IUPAC Commission bad no desire to usurp the "right" of the discoverer to name a new element, it was convinced of the need for an intermediate system to be used until actual discovery. Initial efforts were begun in 1971 and were stimulated by a similar proposal which was submitted to the Commission by J. Beauchamp in 1972. The Commission agreed that the names should accord with the following principles (7) i) The names should be short and obviously related to the atomic number of the element. ii) The names should end in "-ium" whether the element was expected to be metal or otherwise. iii) The symbols for the systematically named elements should consist of three letters. (Thus there is a clear distinction between the known elements with one--or two-letter symbols.) iv) The symbols should be derived directly from the atomic number and be visually related to the names as far as possible. The system finally adopted (1973) by the Commission (but not yet approved by the IUPAC Council) utilizes the following numerical roots: nil = 0,un = 1, bi = 2, tri = 3, quad = 4, pent = 5, hex = 6, sept = 7, oct = 8, and enn = 9. These roots, easily recognized by most chemists, are a mixture of Latin and Greek, ordinal and cardinal roots, chosen to give a unique series of initial letters for use in the symbols, and to produce names which are pronounceable in most languages. Example names and symbols are: Atomic Number 107 108 109 110 111
112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 130 140 150 160 167 168 170 180 190
Name
Svmhol
Unnilseptium Unniloctium Unnilennium Ununnilium Unununium Ununbium Ununtrium Ununquadium Ununpentium Ununhexium Ununseptium Ununoctium Ununennium Unbinilium Unbiunium Untrinilium Unquadnilium Unpentnilium Unhexnilium Unhexseptiuma Unhexoctiuma Unseptnilium Unoctnilium Unennilium
Uns Uno Une Uun Uuu Uub Uut Uuq UUP Uuh Uus Uuo Uue Ubn Ubu Utn Uqn
UP^
Ubn Uhs Uho Usn Uon Uen
' Beauchamp urges that Element 167 he known as unhexseptine and Element 168 as unhexocton because they are expected to be a halogen and a noble gas, respectively. Volume 52, Number 9, September 1975 / 583
Unennennium Binilnilium Binilunium Binilbium Binilennium Trinilnilium Quadnilnilium Pentnilnilium Ennilnilium
584 / Journal of Chemical Education
Uee Bnn Bnu Bnb Bne Tnn Qnn Pnn Enn
Literature Cied ( I ) Fnneliuq W. C., laening. K., and Adams, R. M., J. CHEM. EDUC., 48, 730
\."..,. ,,Wn$
(21 "Nomenclature of Inorganic Chemistry," (2nd ed.1. Pur. Appl. Chrm. 28(1), 10 (1971); iamrd as a book by Butteworthq London; U.S.agcnf: Crane, R u d , and c o . (3) Jen=n, K. A,. Acfo C h i m S c a d . . 6. 7 5 (1952); in "Chemical Nomanelature."Ad"oneearn Chemistry Serier. No. 8.40 11953). (4) Wolfonden, A,. Nature, 211150191, 632 (19661. (5) Shuttleworth. R.. Nature, 211. 1178 (19661. (6) Rothery, E. J., Noture. 212. lN(19661. Chem. Brit.. 413). 121 119681. (7) Compf. Rend. XXVll Conference. Munich 21-31 Aug. 1973. Pclrt B, pp. 149-1% 119741.
