Stock nomenclature for

inorganic compound An inorganic compound is typically a chemical compound that lacks carbon–hydrogen bonds⁠that is, a compound that is not an organic compound. The study of inorganic compounds is a subfield of chemistry known as ''inorganic chemistry''. Inorgan ...

s is a widely used system of

chemical nomenclature Chemical nomenclature is a set of rules to generate systematic name#In chemistry, systematic names for chemical compounds. The nomenclature used most frequently worldwide is the one created and developed by the International Union of Pure and Appli ...

developed by the German chemist Alfred Stock and first published in 1919. In the "Stock system", the

oxidation state In chemistry, the oxidation state, or oxidation number, is the hypothetical Electrical charge, charge of an atom if all of its Chemical bond, bonds to other atoms are fully Ionic bond, ionic. It describes the degree of oxidation (loss of electrons ...

s of some or all of the elements in a compound are indicated in

parentheses A bracket is either of two tall fore- or back-facing punctuation marks commonly used to isolate a segment of text or data from its surroundings. They come in four main pairs of shapes, as given in the box to the right, which also gives their n ...

Roman numeral Roman numerals are a numeral system that originated in ancient Rome and remained the usual way of writing numbers throughout Europe well into the Late Middle Ages. Numbers are written with combinations of letters from the Latin alphabet, ea ...

Style

Contrary to the usual English style for parentheses, there is no space between the end of the element name and the opening parenthesis: for AgF, the correct style is "silver(I) fluoride" not "silver (I) fluoride". Where there is no ambiguity about the oxidation state of an element in a compound, it is not necessary to indicate it with Roman numerals: hence for

NaCl Sodium chloride , commonly known as edible salt, is an ionic compound with the chemical formula NaCl, representing a 1:1 ratio of sodium and chloride ions. It is transparent or translucent, brittle, hygroscopic, and occurs as the mineral hali ...

, sodium chloride will suffice; sodium(I) chloride(−I) is unnecessarily long and such usage is very rare.

Examples

* : iron(II) chloride * : iron(III) chloride * : potassium manganate(VII) (rarely used except in pre-university education; potassium

permanganate A permanganate () is a chemical compound with the manganate(VII) ion, , the conjugate base of permanganic acid. Because the manganese atom has a +7 oxidation state, the permanganate(VII) ion is a strong oxidising agent. The ion is a transition ...

is ubiquitous) * : hexaamminecobalt(III)

Mixed-valence compounds

* : cobalt(II,III) oxide. is a mixed-valence compound that is more accurately described as Co^IICo^III₂O₄, i.e. . * : antimony(III,V) oxide. is better formulated as Sb^IIISb^VO₄, i.e. .

References

{{reflist Chemical nomenclature

Style

Examples

Mixed-valence compounds

See also

References