The Chinese Chemical Society (CCS; ) lays out a set of rules based on those given by the

International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC ) is an international federation of National Adhering Organizations working for the advancement of the chemical sciences, especially by developing nomenclature and terminology. It is ...

(IUPAC) for the purpose of systematic organic nomenclature in Chinese. The chemical names derived from these rules are meant to correspond with the English IUPAC name in a manner that is close to one-to-one, while being adapted to and taking advantage of the logographic nature of the Chinese written language. A standard set of characters invented during the 20th century (''vide infra''), along with characters for the chemical elements and characters corresponding to standard chemical prefixes and suffixes, are used for this purpose.

Derivation of Chinese characters

The majority of the

Chinese characters Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are known as ''kanji ...

used for this purpose are phonosemantic compounds, with part of the character giving a general semantic category and the other part providing a pronunciation, usually based on the international (European) pronunciation. There are four common radicals (the part of the character that gives the semantic category) for these characters: *火 (''huǒ'', fire) e.g.: 烷 (''wán'',

alkane In organic chemistry, an alkane, or paraffin (a historical trivial name that also has other meanings), is an acyclic saturated hydrocarbon. In other words, an alkane consists of hydrogen and carbon atoms arranged in a tree structure in wh ...

), common for hydrocarbons *酉 (''yǒu'', ritual wine vessel) e.g.: 酮 (''tóng'', ketone), common for oxygenated functionalities *艸 (''cǎo'', grass) e.g. 苯 (''běn'', benzene, phenyl), common for aromatic compounds and terpenes *肉 (''ròu'', meat, flesh) e.g. 腙 (''zōng'',

hydrazone Hydrazones are a class of organic compounds with the structure . They are related to ketones and aldehydes by the replacement of the oxygen =O with the = functional group. They are formed usually by the action of hydrazine on ketones or aldehy ...

), common for nitrogen-containing functionalities Additionally, the mouth radical (口, ''kǒu'') is affixed to characters that are used for their sound only. This occurs often in the

transliteration Transliteration is a type of conversion of a text from one script to another that involves swapping letters (thus ''trans-'' + '' liter-'') in predictable ways, such as Greek → , Cyrillic → , Greek → the digraph , Armenian → or L ...

of the names of

heterocyclic compounds A heterocyclic compound or ring structure is a cyclic compound that has atoms of at least two different elements as members of its ring(s). Heterocyclic chemistry is the branch of organic chemistry dealing with the synthesis, properties, an ...

, (e.g., 吡啶, "bǐdìng", pyridine). These characters are also used for the transliteration of non-chemical terms from foreign languages.

Table

Below is a table, in

pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese fo ...

order, of the Chinese names of major organic compounds, radicals, and functional groups. Characters given are in

traditional Chinese A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays ...

, followed by

simplified Chinese Simplification, Simplify, or Simplified may refer to: Mathematics Simplification is the process of replacing a mathematical expression by an equivalent one, that is simpler (usually shorter), for example * Simplification of algebraic expressions ...

where possible. Since the characters are modern creations, the traditional Chinese characters are analogous (with traditional components in place of simplified components). The Mandarin pronunciation of each character, as said in Mainland China, is in pronunciation column. Any Taiwanese pronunciations that differ from the Mainland Chinese pronunciations are put in the notes. Other usages of characters are etymologically unrelated to the character's meaning as names for organic compounds, radicals, and functional groups unless otherwise stated. This list is not exhaustive, although many of the other characters used for this purpose can only be found in specialist dictionaries.

Other aspects and examples

In the CCS system, carbon chain lengths are denoted by

celestial stems The ten Heavenly Stems or Celestial Stems () are a Chinese system of ordinals that first appear during the Shang dynasty, c. 1250 BC, as the names of the ten days of the week. They were also used in Shang-period ritual as names for dead family mem ...

(甲 ''jiǎ'', 乙 ''yǐ'', 丙 ''bǐng'', 丁 ''dīng'', 戊 ''wù'', 己 ''jǐ'', 庚 ''gēng'', 辛 ''xīn'', 壬 ''rén'', 癸 ''guǐ''), characters used since the

Shang Dynasty The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Chinese royal dynasty founded by Tang of Shang (Cheng Tang) that ruled in the Yellow River valley in the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty a ...

(16th-11th centuries BCE) for naming days (and later, to name years). For example, hexane is 己烷 ''jǐwán'', since 己 ''jǐ'' is the sixth celestial stem. Longer carbon chains are specified by number followed by '碳' ''tàn'' 'carbon'. For example, 1-hexadecene is 1-十六碳烯 (read as , ''yī'' , ''wèi'' ��六, ''shíliù'', '16' ��, ''tàn'' ��, ''xī'', where the hyphen is read as 位 (''wèi'', 'position'). For a more complex example, consider 3-buten-1-ol. Its Chinese name is 3-丁烯-1-醇 (read as , ''sān'' , ''wèi'' ��, ''dīng'' ��, ''xī'' , ''yī'' , ''wèi'' ��, ''chún''. The descriptors for degree of substitution, ''primary'', ''secondary'', ''tertiary'', and ''quaternary'', are translated as 伯 (''bó''), 仲 (''zhòng''), 叔 (''shū''), 季 (''jì''), which refer to the first, second, third, and fourth male siblings in a family. For instance, ''tert-''butyllithium is translated as 叔丁基锂 ( ��, ''shū'', tert''' ��, ''dīng'', 'but-' ��, ''jī'', 'yl' ��, ''lǐ'', 'lithium'. Other commonly used isomeric descriptors ''normal-'', iso-, and neo- are translated as 正 (''zhèng'', 'proper'), 异 (''yì'', 'different'), and 新 (''xīn'', 'new'), respectively. The numerical prefix bis- is translated as 双 (''shuāng'', 'double'), while larger multiplicities are simply given by the Chinese word for the number (e.g., 四 (''sì'', 'four') for tetrakis-). For example, tetrakis(triphenylphosphine)palladium is rendered 四(三苯基膦)钯, in which 三苯基膦 is triphenylphosphine and 钯 is palladium. The prefix bi- (for joining of ring systems) is translated as 联 (lián, 'join', 'couple'), as in 联苯 for biphenyl. The stereochemical descriptors ''cis-'' and ''trans-'' are translated as 顺 (''shùn'', 'along') and 反 (''fǎn'', 'against'). The relational prefixes ''ortho-'', ''meta-'', and ''para-'' are translated as 邻 (''lín'', 'neighboring'), 间 (''jiàn'', 'between'), and 对 (''duì'', 'opposing'), respectively. The structural modification descriptors ''cyclo-'', ''nor-'' and ''homo-'' are translated as 环 (''huán'', 'ring'), 降 (''jiàng'', 'lowered'), and 高 (''gāo'', 'high'). For example, norbornene is translated as 降冰片烯, in which the trivial name (冰片) for bornyl iterally, camphoris used. When substitutive nomenclature is used for naming heterocycles, the suffix 杂 (zá, 'mixed') is used in the same way as '-a' in English (as in ''aza'', ''thia'', ''oxa'', etc.). As an example, DABCO (1,4-diazabicylo .2.2ctane) is named 1,4-二氮杂二环［2.2.2］辛烷. The common unsaturated groups

allyl In organic chemistry, an allyl group is a substituent with the structural formula , where R is the rest of the molecule. It consists of a methylene bridge () attached to a vinyl group (). The name is derived from the scientific name for garlic, ...

and

propargyl In organic chemistry, the propargyl group is a functional group of 2- propynyl with the structure . It is an alkyl group derived from propyne (). The term propargylic refers to a saturated position ( ''sp''3-hybridized) on a molecular framewor ...

are translated as 烯丙(基) (''xībǐng(jī)'', 'alkene-prop-(yl)') and 炔丙(基) (''qūebǐng(jī)'', 'alkyne-prop-(yl)'). Thus, using 高 for homo- and 烯丙 for allyl, 3-buten-1-ol is also called 高烯丙醇 (i.e., homoallyl alcohol) in Chinese via semisystematic nomenclature. The Chinese Wikipedia page may be consulted for further details.

Pseudohalogens

*The character 氯 ('' lǜ'', "

chlorine Chlorine is a chemical element with the symbol Cl and atomic number 17. The second-lightest of the halogens, it appears between fluorine and bromine in the periodic table and its properties are mostly intermediate between them. Chlorine i ...

") may on occasion mean Cl (one atom), or the bonded pair Cl₂ (the molecule, the usual form of chlorine). Likewise in describing

pseudohalogen Pseudohalogens are polyatomic analogues of halogens, whose chemistry, resembling that of the true halogens, allows them to substitute for halogens in several classes of chemical compounds. Pseudohalogens occur in pseudohalogen molecules, inorganic ...

s, 氰 (''qíng'') may on occasion mean a single CN⁻

cyanide ion Cyanide is a naturally occurring, rapidly acting, toxic chemical that can exist in many different forms. In chemistry, a cyanide () is a chemical compound that contains a functional group. This group, known as the cyano group, consists of a ...

(e.g. as in 氰化鉀 (''qínghuàjiǎ'',

potassium cyanide Potassium cyanide is a compound with the formula KCN. This colorless crystalline salt, similar in appearance to sugar, is highly soluble in water. Most KCN is used in gold mining, organic synthesis, and electroplating. Smaller applications inc ...

, literally "''cyanide-ion transform potassium''"), or the bonded pair (CN)₂ or NCCN ("

cyanogen Cyanogen is the chemical compound with the formula ( C N)2. It is a colorless and highly toxic gas with a pungent odor. The molecule is a pseudohalogen. Cyanogen molecules consist of two CN groups – analogous to diatomic halogen molec ...

"). The similar (not identical) character 腈 (''jīng'') means "

nitrile In organic chemistry, a nitrile is any organic compound that has a functional group. The prefix '' cyano-'' is used interchangeably with the term ''nitrile'' in industrial literature. Nitriles are found in many useful compounds, including me ...

Thermochemical terminology

Although not substances, the thermochemical concepts ''

entropy Entropy is a scientific concept, as well as a measurable physical property, that is most commonly associated with a state of disorder, randomness, or uncertainty. The term and the concept are used in diverse fields, from classical thermodyna ...

'' and ''

enthalpy Enthalpy , a property of a thermodynamic system, is the sum of the system's internal energy and the product of its pressure and volume. It is a state function used in many measurements in chemical, biological, and physical systems at a constant ...

'' were assigned Chinese characters based on similar considerations. The 'fire' radical, 火, is used as the semantic category. The character for entropy, 熵 (pinyin: shāng), is derived from 商 (pinyin: shāng), which means 'quotient' in this context. This recognizes the Clausius equation for the differential change in entropy as the differential heat absorbed divided by the temperature: ''dS'' = ''dQ''/''T''. The character for enthalpy, 焓 (pinyin: hán), is derived from 含 (pinyin: hán), which means 'to contain.' This character phonetically approximates the first syllable of 'enthalpy', and recognizes the definition of enthalpy as heat content.

Notes