Chapter 9: Unit 2. Naming Acids and Bases
Naming Acids
Naming acids is divided in two categories:
a. Acids without Oxygen
Acids without oxygen such as HF, HCl, HBr, HI, HCN and H 2 S:
Naming such acids without oxygen will follow the procedure below:
Start with the hydrogen and name it as Hydro
End with the second element and convert it with the ending “ic acid” ending.
Examples:
| Acid Formula | Acid Name |
| HF | Hydrofluoric Acid |
| HCl | Hydrochloric Acid |
| HBr | Hydrobromic Acid |
| HI | Hydroiodic Acid |
| HCN | Hydrocyanic acid |
Exception for this is H 2 S acid which is named as Hydrogen Sulfide.
b. Acids with Oxygen (also known as Oxoacids):
Acids with oxygen such as HNO 3 , H 2 SO 4 , H 3 PO 4 , HClO 3 , and H 2 CO 3
Naming such acids with oxygen will follow the procedure below:
Start with the middle nonmetal atom (not oxygen or hydrogen) and convert it and name it.
End with “ic acid”
Examples:
| Acid Formula | Acid Name |
| HNO 3 | Nitric Acid |
| H 2 SO 4 | Sulfuric Acid |
| H 3 PO 4 | Phosphoric Acid |
| HClO 3 | Chloric Acid |
| H 2 CO 3 | Carbonic Acid |
Some oxoacids (acids contain oxygen) have different amount of oxygen atoms. In order to name such oxoacids, one will need to use a reference or standard point. Anions that end with “ate” will form the “the ic acid” and will be used as a reference acid point. Oxoacids with higher amount of oxygen than the standard acid point will have the prefix “per” is added. Less than this standard point acid will have the ending “ous acid” and more less oxygen (least amount of oxygen) will have the prefix of “hypo” and will end with “ous acid”. The table below shows several acids with this trend.
The table belowillustratessome acids with their corresponding anions:http://chemed.chem.purdue.edu/genchem/topicreview/bp/ch2/names.html#acids
Naming Bases
Naming bases is divided in threecategories:a.Bases are made of metals that have no multiple charges. [No Roman Numbers are used].Groups 1 A, 2A and part of group3 A metals of the periodic table have all metals with multiple charges cations. For example group 1 A (oxidation number +1), group 2 A (oxidation number + 2) and group 3 A (oxidation number +
3).Example:
b.Bases are made of metals that have multiple charges. [Roman Numbers are used].
Some transition metals of group B in periodic table have multiple charges. The name of the bases of these transition metals will have the roman numbers to distinguish among the different charges of the same metal.The table below shows these transition metals with their multiple charges.
- Bases are made of nonmetals only. No metals are part of their formulas.
Such bases have covalent bonds and not ionic bonds. Example of such bases are Lewis bases such as H2O, NH3, (CH3-CH2)2O, PH3 and CO. They have very unique names.
The names of such Lewis bases are shown in the table below:
https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_general–chemistry–principles–patterns–and–applications–v1.0/s06–03–naming–ionic–compounds.htmlThe periodic table below shows all charges for all elements of periodic table
| Acid Formula | Acid Name | Standard Point Acid | ||
| HClO 4 | Perchloric Acid | |||
| HClO 3 | Chloric Acid | HClO 3 | ||
| HClO2 | Chlorous Acid | |||
| HClO | Hypochlorous Acid | |||
| Acid Formula | Acid Name | Standard Point Acid | ||
| H 2 SO 5 | Persulfuric Acid | |||
| H 2 SO 4 | SulfuricAcid | H 2 SO 4 | ||
| H 2 SO 3 | Sulfurous Acid | |||
| H 2 SO 2 | Hyposulfurous Acid | |||
| Acid Formula | Acid Name | Standard Point Acid | ||
| HNO 4 | Persulfuric Acid | |||
| HNO 3 | SulfuricAcid | HNO 3 | ||
| HNO 2 | Sulfurous Acid | |||
| HNO | Hyposulfurous Acid | |||
| Acid Formula | Acid Name | Standard Point Acid | ||
| H 3 PO 5 | Perphosphoric Acid (also known as Peroxyphosphoric acid | |||
| H 3 PO 4 | PhosphoricAcid | H 3 PO 4 | ||
| H 3 PO 3 | Phosphorous Acid | |||
| H 3 PO 2 | Hypophosphorous Acid | |||
| Acids containing ions ending with ide often become | hydro –ic acid | |||
| Cl– | chloride | HCl | hydrochloric acid | |
| F– | fluoride | HF | hydrofluoric acid | |
| S 2– | sulfide | H 2 S | hydrosulfuric acid | |
| Acids containing ions ending with ate usually become | –ic acid | |||
| CH 3 CO2– | acetate | CH 3 CO 2 H | acetic acid | |
| CO 3 2– | carbonate | H 2 CO 3 | carbonic acid | |
| BO 3 3– | borate | H 3 BO 3 | boric acid | |
| NO 3– | nitrate | HNO 3 | nitric acid | |
| SO 4 2– | sulfate | H 2 SO 4 | sulfuric acid | |
| ClO 4– | perchlorate | HClO 4 | perchloric acid | |
| PO 4 3– | phosphate | H 3 PO 4 | phosphoric acid | |
| MnO 4– | permanganate | HMnO 4 | permanganic acid | |
| CrO 4 2– | chromate | H 2 CrO 4 | chromic acid | |
| ClO 3– | chlorate | HClO 3 | chloric acid | |
| Acids containing ions ending with ite usually become | –ous acid | |||
| ClO 2– | chlorite | HClO 2 | chlorous acid | |
| NO 2– | nitrite | HNO 2 | nitrous acid | |
| SO 3 2– | sulfite | H 2 SO 3 | sulfurous acid | |
| ClO– | hypochlorite | HClO | hypochlorous acid | |
| Base Formula | Base Name | Group in Periodic Table | ||
| NaOH | Sodium Hydroxide | 1 A | ||
| FrOH | Francium Hydroxide | 1 A | ||
| Ca(OH) 2 | Calcium Hydroxide | 2 A | ||
| Ba(OH) 2 | Barium Hydroxide | 2 A | ||
| Al(OH) 3 | Aluminum Hydroxide | 3 A | ||
| Base Formula | Base Name | Group in Periodic Table | ||
| Pb(OH) 4 | Lead–IV–Hydroxide | 4 A | ||
| Cr(OH) 3 | Chromium–III–Hydroxide | 6 B | ||
| Fe(OH) 2 | Iron–II–Hydroxide | 8 B | ||
| V(OH) 5 | Vanadium–V–Hydroxide | 5 B | ||
| CuOH | Copper–I–Hydroxide | 1 B | ||
| Formula of Lewis Base | IUPAC Name of Lewis Base | Common Name of Lewis Base | ||
| H 2 O | Dihydrogenmonoxide | Water | ||
| NH 3 | Nitrogentrihydride | Ammonia | ||
| (CH 3–CH 2 ) 2 O | Ethoxyethane | Diethyl Ether | ||
| PH 3 | Phosphoroustrihydride | Phosphine | ||
| CO | Carbonmonoxide | Carbonic Oxide |
The video below out of You Tube goes over naming Bases: