Naming Compounds Flowchart - Chemistry Guide

To name compounds, use this naming compounds flowchart (Credit: chemblogmom)

View full chart here.

When naming a chemical compound, it is important to know the number of atoms in each element. For example, hydrogen would be abbreviated as H. There are three elements so the chemical name should have three letters. This compound does not have any numbers so it has one letter.

Generally, a name is assigned to a chemical compound following rules of nomenclature. The IUPAC name or IUPAC nomenclature for a chemical compound generally includes the systematic name of the covalent bond, which is an abbreviation of the full structure, and a specification of the number and type of atoms that are connected by single bonds. In addition to these components, there can also be at least one locant specifying the position of each atom in the molecule relative to each other.