4. Nomenclature

Nomenclature in all areas of chemistry is continuously under development within IUPAC, and the pages of Pure and Applied Chemistry should be consulted for recent Recommendations. Several important book-form compendia exist for Inorganic Chemistry [the ‘Red Book’; ref. 6 and ‘Red Book II’; ref. 7], Organic Chemistry [the ‘Blue Book’and associated ‘Guide’and ‘Glossary’; refs. 8–11], Macromolecular Chemistry [the ‘Purple Book’; ref. 13 superseded in part by refs. 14-29], and Analytical Chemistry [the ‘Orange Book’and ‘Sampling Nomenclature Recommendations’; refs. 38 and 39]. Copies of these will be sent to Division Officers within the relevant Division. Recommendations and a compendium of Biochemical Nomenclature [refs. 42 and 43 ] have been compiled under the aegis of the IUPAC–IUBMB Joint Commission on Biochemical Nomenclature.

In the preparation of nomenclature documents it is also helpful, as for definitions, if individual rules are given in numbered paragraphs together with explanatory notes and examples, as required.

In IUPAC Recommendations that are not concerned with new nomenclature, names of chemical substances should be in accordance with published IUPAC rules [refs. 2, 6-29 and 42]. In those cases where these rules allow several names for the same molecular entity, ICTNS may ask authors, during the review process, to use a different alternative, according to the aims and context of the Recommendation. Instead of IUPAC names, certain common names are acceptable in the following cases: INNs (International Nonproprietary Names) are allowed for pharmaceutical substances [ref. 30]. For agricultural chemicals including pesticides, ISO names can also be used [refs. 31-37]. For recently discovered natural products with complex structures, where systematic names would be too unwieldy and no retained IUPAC names exist as yet, names derived from those of the biological materials in which they occur are acceptable. Biochemical names from IUPAC and IUBMB are also allowed [ref. 42, see also ref. 43]. In IUPAC Technical Reports, the same rule holds. In Technical Reports, very often a name is quoted from an existing publication. This name should be retained, with an IUPAC or another internationally approved name following in square brackets.