Naming Inorganic Covalent Compounds

Covalent Bond Characteristics:

• electrons are shared
• all atoms want 8 electrons except for Hydrogen
• covalent bonding occurs between non-metals
• Organic compounds involve bonds between carbon atoms. These have special naming rules.
• Inorganic compounds do not have carbon-carbon bonds and follow the rules described below.

Basic Rules:

1. Name each element in the order its written
2. Use prefixes to tell how many of each element is included in the formula
3. Use the "ide" ending for last element in formula
4. skip prefix of mono for first elment

Prefixes:

1. Mono
2. Di
3. Tri
4. Tetra
5. Penta
6. Hexa
7. Hepta
8. Octa
9. Nona
10. Deca

Examples:

1. CO₂ Carbon Dioxide
2. NO₂ Nitrogen Dioxide
3. SO₃ Sulfur Trioxide
4. P₂O₃ Diphosphorous trioxide
5. N₂O₅ Dinitrogen pentoxide