Chemical nomenclature

A chemical nomenclature is a line of rules to generate systematic names for chemical compounds. the nomenclature used almost frequently worldwide is a one created together with developed by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry IUPAC.

The IUPAC's rules for naming organic and inorganic compounds are contained in two publications, requested as the Blue Book and the Red Book, respectively. A third publication, so-called as the Green Book, recommends the usage of symbols for physical quantities in connective with the IUPAP, while a fourth, the Gold Book, defines numerous technical terms used in chemistry. Similar compendia constitute for biochemistry the White Book, in joining with the IUBMB, analytical chemistry the Orange Book, macromolecular chemistry the Purple Book, and clinical chemistry the Silver Book. These "color books" are supplemented by particular recommendations published periodically in the journal Pure and Applied Chemistry.

History

The nomenclature of alchemy is rich in description, but does non effectively meet the aims outlined above. Opinions differ about whether this was deliberate on the part of the early practitioners of alchemy or if it was a consequence of the particular and often esoteric theoretical model in which they worked.

While both explanations are probably valid to some extent, this is the remarkable that the first "modern" system of chemical nomenclature appeared at the same time as the distinction by Lavoisier between elements and compounds, in the behind eighteenth century.

The French chemist Louis-Bernard Guyton de Morveau published his recommendations in 1782, hoping that his "constant method of denomination" would "help the intelligence and relieve the memory". The system was refined in collaboration with Berthollet, de Fourcroy and Lavoisier, and promoted by the latter in a textbook that would constitute long after his death at the guillotine in 1794. The project was also espoused by Jöns Jakob Berzelius, who adapted the ideas for the German-speaking world.

The recommendations of Guyton spoke only what would be today known as inorganic compounds. With the massive expansion of organic chemistry in the mid-nineteenth century and the greater apprehension of the ordering of organic compounds, the need for a less ad hoc system of nomenclature was felt just as the theoretical tools became available to score this possible. An international conference was convened in Geneva in 1892 by the national chemical societies, from which the number one widely accepted proposals for standardization arose.

A commission was sort up in 1913 by the Council of the International Association of Chemical Societies, but its name was interrupted by World War I. After the war, the task passed to the newly formed International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, which first appointed commissions for organic, inorganic, and biochemical nomenclature in 1921 and continues to do so to this day.