Project Details:
Basic Guidelines to the Nomenclature of Organic and Inorganic Chemistry
| Project No.: | 2010-055-1-800 |
| Start date: | 2010-11-01 |
| End date: | |
| Division: | Chemical Nomenclature and Structure Representation Division |
To disseminate throughout the scientific community authoritative guidelines as two short, handy and easily assimilated guides to the basic principles of inorganic and organic chemical nomenclature, respectively.
Most chemists and scientists of closely related areas are aware that using nomenclature approved by IUPAC enhances the precise exchange of scientific information. However, as technical and copy editors of journals know, IUPAC recommendations could be adopted more widely.
This project will prepare a concise 2- or 4-page document for each of organic and inorganic chemistry which will act as a basic guide to students and authors publishing in scientific journals. These documents will not be a summary of all rules; rather they will explain the most commonly applied rules in a condensed and concise way. Since this project will be a republication of a selection of rules from existing IUPAC recommendations, this will be a short-term project, hopefully to be completed within the International Year of Chemistry. The principal difficulties will be determination of just which rules really are necessary to communicate the essentials of chemical nomenclature and development of a clear and attractive presentation of the material. The guidelines will include:
- the important terminology used when naming chemical compounds;
- locants, seniority considerations, the use of enclosing marks and italics, etc.;
- a concise explanation of the different nomenclature types;
- hyper-links to relevant IUPAC documents.
Journals and society magazines publishing in chemistry and related sciences will be encouraged to (1) incorporate hard copies of the final document in their freely-distributed January issues and (2) give permanent web links to the document, which in turn will provide reference to the detailed relevant IUPAC documents. The documents would be available for separate printing by IUPAC, in card or flyer form, as required.