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 a member of the

International Science Council The International Science Council (ISC) is an international non-governmental organization that unites scientific bodies at various levels across the social and natural sciences. The ISC was formed with its inaugural general assembly on 4 July 20 ...

(ISC). IUPAC is registered in

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

, and the administrative office, known as the "IUPAC Secretariat", is in Research Triangle Park,

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. IUPAC's executive director heads this administrative office, currently Greta Heydenrych. IUPAC was established in 1919 as the successor of the International Congress of Applied Chemistry for the advancement of

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

. Its members, the National Adhering Organizations, can be national chemistry societies, national academies of sciences, or other bodies representing chemists. There are fifty-four National Adhering Organizations and three Associate National Adhering Organizations. IUPAC's Inter-divisional Committee on Nomenclature and Symbols ( IUPAC nomenclature) is the recognized world authority in developing standards for naming the

chemical elements A chemical element is a chemical substance whose atoms all have the same number of protons. The number of protons is called the atomic number of that element. For example, oxygen has an atomic number of 8: each oxygen atom has 8 protons in i ...

and compounds. Since its creation, IUPAC has been run by many different committees with different responsibilities.IUPAC Committees list
. Retrieved 15 April 2010. These committees run different projects which include standardizing

nomenclature Nomenclature (, ) is a system of names or terms, or the rules for forming these terms in a particular field of arts or sciences. (The theoretical field studying nomenclature is sometimes referred to as ''onymology'' or ''taxonymy'' ). The principl ...

,Interdivisional Committee on Terminology web page
. Retrieved 15 April 2010. finding ways to bring chemistry to the world,Chemdrawn
. Retrieved 15 April 2010. and publishing works.Pure and Applied Chemistry Editorial Advisory Board web page
. Retrieved 15 April 2010.Evaluation Committee page
. Retrieved 15 April 2010. IUPAC is best known for its works standardizing nomenclature in chemistry, but IUPAC has publications in many science fields including chemistry, biology, and physics. Some important work IUPAC has done in these fields includes standardizing

nucleotide Nucleotides are Organic compound, organic molecules composed of a nitrogenous base, a pentose sugar and a phosphate. They serve as monomeric units of the nucleic acid polymers – deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA), both o ...

base sequence code names; publishing books for environmental scientists, chemists, and physicists; and improving education in science.IYC: Introduction
. 9 July 2009. Retrieved on 17 February 2010. Retrieved 15 April 2010. IUPAC is also known for standardizing the atomic weights of the elements through one of its oldest standing committees, the

Commission on Isotopic Abundances and Atomic Weights The Commission on Isotopic Abundances and Atomic Weights (CIAAW) is an international scientific committee of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) under its IUPAC Inorganic Chemistry Division, Division of Inorganic Chemist ...

(CIAAW).

Creation and history

The need for an international standard for chemistry was first addressed in 1860 by a committee headed by German scientist

Friedrich August Kekulé von Stradonitz Friedrich may refer to: Names *Friedrich (given name), people with the given name ''Friedrich'' *Friedrich (surname), people with the surname ''Friedrich'' Other *Friedrich (board game), a board game about Frederick the Great and the Seven Years' ...

. This

committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly or other form of organization. A committee may not itself be considered to be a form of assembly or a decision-making body. Usually, an assembly o ...

was the first international conference to create an international naming system for

organic compounds Some chemical authorities define an organic compound as a chemical compound that contains a carbon–hydrogen or carbon–carbon bond; others consider an organic compound to be any chemical compound that contains carbon. For example, carbon-co ...

. The ideas that were formulated at that conference evolved into the official

IUPAC nomenclature of organic chemistry In chemical nomenclature, the IUPAC nomenclature of organic chemistry is a method of naming organic chemical compounds as recommended by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC). It is published in the '' Nomenclature of O ...

. IUPAC is a legacy of this meeting, making it one of the most important historical international collaborations of chemistry societies. IUPAC as such was established in 1919.Since this time, IUPAC has been the official organization with the responsibility of updating and maintaining official

organic nomenclature In chemical nomenclature, the IUPAC nomenclature of organic chemistry is a method of naming organic compound, organic chemical compounds as recommended by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC). It is published in the ''No ...

. One notable country excluded from early IUPAC was Germany. Germany's exclusion was a result of prejudice towards it by the Allied powers after

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. Germany was finally admitted into IUPAC in 1929. However,

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

was removed from IUPAC during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

During World War II, IUPAC was affiliated with the Allied powers, but had little involvement with the war effort itself.

East East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that ea ...

and

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

were only readmitted to IUPAC in 1973. Since World War II, IUPAC has focused on standardizing nomenclature and methods in science. In 2016, IUPAC denounced the use of

chlorine Chlorine is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), 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 ...

as a

chemical weapon A chemical weapon (CW) is a specialized munition that uses chemicals formulated to inflict death or harm on humans. According to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), this can be any chemical compound intended as ...

. In a letter to Ahmet Üzümcü, director of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the organization pointed out their concerns in regards to chlorine weapon usage in the Syrian civil war and other places . The letter stated, "Our organizations deplore the use of chlorine in this manner. The indiscriminate attacks, possibly carried out by a member state of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), are of concern to chemical scientists and engineers around the globe and we stand ready to support your mission of implementing the CWC." According to the CWC, "the use, stockpiling, distribution, development or storage of any chemical weapons is forbidden by any of the 192 state party signatories."

Committees and governance

IUPAC is governed by several committees that all have different responsibilities. The committees are as follows: Bureau, CHEMRAWN (Chem Research Applied to World Needs) Committee, Committee on Chemistry Education, Committee on Chemistry and Industry, Committee on Printed and Electronic Publications, Evaluation Committee, Executive Committee, Finance Committee, Interdivisional Committee on Terminology, Nomenclature and Symbols, Project Committee, and Pure and Applied Chemistry Editorial Advisory Board. Each committee is made up of members of different National Adhering Organizations from different countries. The steering committee hierarchy for IUPAC is as follows:IUPAC Project Committee
Retrieved 15 April 2010 * All committees have an allotted budget to which they must adhere. * Any committee may start a project. * If a project's spending becomes too much for a committee to continue funding, it must take the issue to the Project Committee. * The project committee either increases the budget or decides on an external funding plan. * The Bureau and Executive Committee oversee operations of the other committees.

Nomenclature

Scientists framed a systematic method for naming organic compounds based on their structures. Hence, the naming rules were formulated by IUPAC.IUPAC Publications List
Retrieved 15 April 2010

Basic spellings

IUPAC establishes rules for harmonized spelling of some chemicals to reduce variation among different local English-language variants. For example, they recommend "

aluminium Aluminium (or aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Al and atomic number 13. It has a density lower than that of other common metals, about one-third that of steel. Aluminium has ...

" rather than "aluminum", "

sulfur Sulfur ( American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphur ( Commonwealth spelling) is a chemical element; it has symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms ...

" rather than "sulphur", and "

caesium Caesium (IUPAC spelling; also spelled cesium in American English) is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Cs and atomic number 55. It is a soft, silvery-golden alkali metal with a melting point of , which makes it one of only f ...

" rather than "cesium".

Organic nomenclature

IUPAC organic nomenclature has three basic parts: the

substituents In organic chemistry, a substituent is one or a group of atoms that replaces (one or more) atoms, thereby becoming a moiety (chemistry), moiety in the resultant (new) molecule. The suffix ''-yl'' is used when naming organic compounds that conta ...

, carbon chain length, and chemical affix. The substituents are any functional groups attached to the main carbon chain. The main carbon chain is the longest possible continuous chain. The chemical affix denotes what type of molecule it is. For example, the ending ''ane'' denotes a single bonded carbon chain, as in "hexane" (). Another example of IUPAC organic nomenclature is cyclohexanol: Cyclohexanol acsv

* The substituent name for a ring compound is ''cyclo''. * The indication (substituent name) for a six carbon chain is ''hex''. * The chemical ending for a single bonded carbon chain is ''ane''. * The chemical ending for an

alcohol Alcohol may refer to: Common uses * Alcohol (chemistry), a class of compounds * Ethanol, one of several alcohols, commonly known as alcohol in everyday life ** Alcohol (drug), intoxicant found in alcoholic beverages ** Alcoholic beverage, an alco ...

is ''ol''. * The two chemical endings are combined for an ending of ''anol'' indicating a single bonded carbon chain with an alcohol attached to it.

Inorganic nomenclature

Basic IUPAC inorganic nomenclature has two main parts: the

cation An ion () is an atom or molecule with a net electrical charge. The charge of an electron is considered to be negative by convention and this charge is equal and opposite to the charge of a proton, which is considered to be positive by convent ...

and the

anion An ion () is an atom or molecule with a net electrical charge. The charge of an electron is considered to be negative by convention and this charge is equal and opposite to the charge of a proton, which is considered to be positive by conven ...

. The cation is the name for the positively charged ion and the anion is the name for the negatively charged ion. An example of IUPAC nomenclature of inorganic chemistry is potassium chlorate (KClO₃): Potassium-chlorate-composition

* "

Potassium Potassium is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol K (from Neo-Latin ) and atomic number19. It is a silvery white metal that is soft enough to easily cut with a knife. Potassium metal reacts rapidly with atmospheric oxygen to ...

" is the cation name. * "

Chlorate Chlorate is the common name of the anion, whose chlorine atom is in the +5 oxidation state. The term can also refer to chemical compounds containing this anion, with Chlorate#Compounds (salts), chlorates being the salt (chemistry), salts of chlo ...

" is the anion name.

Amino acid and nucleotide base codes

IUPAC also has a system for giving codes to identify

amino acid Amino acids are organic compounds that contain both amino and carboxylic acid functional groups. Although over 500 amino acids exist in nature, by far the most important are the 22 α-amino acids incorporated into proteins. Only these 22 a ...

s and

bases. IUPAC needed a coding system that represented long sequences of amino acids. This would allow for these sequences to be compared to try to find homologies.Amino Acid Codes
Retrieved 15 April 2010 These codes can consist of either a one-letter code or a three-letter code. These codes make it easier and shorter to write down the amino acid sequences that make up

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residue (biochemistry), residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including Enzyme catalysis, catalysing metab ...

s. The nucleotide bases are made up of

purines Purine is a heterocyclic compound, heterocyclic aromatic organic compound that consists of two rings (pyrimidine and imidazole) fused together. It is water-soluble. Purine also gives its name to the wider class of molecules, purines, which inc ...

(

adenine Adenine (, ) (nucleoside#List of nucleosides and corresponding nucleobases, symbol A or Ade) is a purine nucleotide base that is found in DNA, RNA, and Adenosine triphosphate, ATP. Usually a white crystalline subtance. The shape of adenine is ...

and

guanine Guanine () (symbol G or Gua) is one of the four main nucleotide bases found in the nucleic acids DNA and RNA, the others being adenine, cytosine, and thymine ( uracil in RNA). In DNA, guanine is paired with cytosine. The guanine nucleoside ...

) and pyrimidines (

cytosine Cytosine () (symbol C or Cyt) is one of the four nucleotide bases found in DNA and RNA, along with adenine, guanine, and thymine ( uracil in RNA). It is a pyrimidine derivative, with a heterocyclic aromatic ring and two substituents attac ...

and

thymine Thymine () (symbol T or Thy) is one of the four nucleotide bases in the nucleic acid of DNA that are represented by the letters G–C–A–T. The others are adenine, guanine, and cytosine. Thymine is also known as 5-methyluracil, a pyrimidine ...

uracil Uracil () (nucleoside#List of nucleosides and corresponding nucleobases, symbol U or Ura) is one of the four nucleotide bases in the nucleic acid RNA. The others are adenine (A), cytosine (C), and guanine (G). In RNA, uracil binds to adenine via ...

). These nucleotide bases make up

DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid (; DNA) is a polymer composed of two polynucleotide chains that coil around each other to form a double helix. The polymer carries genetic instructions for the development, functioning, growth and reproduction of al ...

and

RNA Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is a polymeric molecule that is essential for most biological functions, either by performing the function itself (non-coding RNA) or by forming a template for the production of proteins (messenger RNA). RNA and deoxyrib ...

. These nucleotide base codes make the genome of an organism much smaller and easier to read.Amino Acid and Nucleotide Base Codes
Retrieved 15 April 2010 The codes for amino acids (22 amino acids and six special codes) are:

Publications

Non-series books

''Experimental Thermodynamics'' book series

The ''Experimental Thermodynamics'' books series covers many topics in the fields of thermodynamics.

Series of books on analytical and physical chemistry of environmental systems

Colored cover book and website series (nomenclature)

IUPAC color code their books in order to make each publication distinguishable.

International Year of Chemistry

IUPAC and

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

were the lead organizations coordinating events for the International Year of Chemistry, which took place in 2011.United Nations Resolution 63/209: International Year of Chemistry.
3 February 2009. Retrieved on 24 April 2010.About IYC: Introduction.
9 July 2009. Retrieved on 24 April 2010. The International Year of Chemistry was originally proposed by IUPAC at the general assembly in

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

, Italy. This motion was adopted by UNESCO at a meeting in 2008. The main objectives of the International Year of Chemistry were to increase public appreciation of chemistry and gain more interest in the world of

. This event is also being held to encourage young people to get involved and contribute to chemistry. A further reason for this event being held is to honour how chemistry has made improvements to everyone's way of life.

IUPAC Presidents

IUPAC Presidents are elected by the IUPAC Council during the General Assembly. Below is the list of IUPAC Presidents since its inception in 1919.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Chemical nomenclature Chemistry organizations International scientific organizations Members of the International Council for Science Organisations based in Zurich Organizations based in North Carolina Scientific organizations based in the United States Scientific organisations based in Switzerland Scientific organizations established in 1919 Standards organisations in Switzerland Members of the International Science Council