4.3 Chemical Terminology

Ayola Words and Combining Forms for the Elements (Table 4.3-1) gives a complete list of 109 chemical elements, their Ayola words and combining forms, along with English equivalents. Columns 1 and 2 give the atomic number and the internationally used chemical symbol.

Column 3 lists the Ayola words for the chemical elements, chosen according to the following criteria:

1. If the pronunciation of a sound is universal, or nearly so, Ayola keeps that pronunciation and spells it according to Ayola rules: e.g. initial ‘c’ before ‘a’. ‘o’, and ‘u’ is universally pronounced as ‘k’, even though the spelling of the element word differs from the chemical symbol.

C karbono

Co kobaltumo

Cu kuprumo

2. If the pronunciation of a word is variable, Ayola keeps the prevailing spelling and pronounces it according to Ayola rules: e.g. th e’g’ in the words for ‘hydrogen’, ‘nitrogen’ and ‘oxygen’ is pronounced as ‘g’ in some languages and as ‘dj’ or ‘j’ in others; in this case, Ayola uses a ‘g’.

3. The root of the element word must always be longer than the combining form, having an additional part such as –ium-, -um-, -in-, -on-, etc., in order to eliminate possible confusion between a complete word denoting an element and a part of a word denoting a compound. For example, when a listener hears fero- in Ayola, he knows that the speaker is referring to a compound containing iron (to be stated shortly), and not the element iron itself, for which the word is ferumo.

4. Following the first three criteria, the element word should contain as many letters as possible of the chemical symbol: e.g. the Ayola word for tungsten is wolframo, pronounced with the ‘w’ sound because W is the chemical symbol. Both volframo (following the German pronunciation) and tungsteno (derived from English and some other languages) are poorer choices.

In summary, the Ayola words for three elements (C, P, Y) do not contain the letter of the symbol and the words for fifteen elements (Cl, Ca, Sc, Cr, Co, Cu, Rh, Cd, Xe, Cs, Ce, Dy, Yb, Ac, and Cf) contain only one of the two letters of the symbol. In eleven cases of the latter set, the symbol has a ‘C’ or ‘c’, whereas the word has a ‘K’ or ‘k’.

Column 4 lists the Ayola combining forms for the chemical elements. Like other combining forms, they do not function as roots, which may take word-endings to form words, but must occur in combination with other combining forms and/or with suffixes such as –id-, -at-, -it-, etc.to form roots, which may then take word endings to form words. Thus *hidro, *karbo, and *okso are not Ayola words, but hidrido, karbohidrato, and dihidroksido are. Several things should be noted about these combining forms:

1. Each combining form is consistently related to the root of its corresponding element word, in that it is missing a final syllable such as –um, -in-, -on-, etc. or the two-syllable combinations –ium-, -ogen-, -igen-, etc. Such is not the case in English, where some elements have two combining forms (phosph- and sulf- as well as phosphor- and sulfur-) andsome elements use the latin root rather than the English root for the combining form (ferr- for iron, argent- for silver, aur- for gold, etc.).

2. The following seven combining forms have a dual rôle and also function as general combining forms (See section __) with the indicated meaning:

hidr- (water) rod- (rose)

lit- (stone) telur- (Earth)

krom- (color) bar- (pressure)

selen- (moon)

No confusion arises from this dual rôle because the chemical words have a distinctive, recognizable form. Thus, for example, it is clear that hidr- in hidrido (hydride), karbohidrato (carbohydrate), and hidroksido and hidroklorido (hydrogen chloride) refers to hydrogen, whereas hidr- in hidroelektrica (hydroelectric) and hidrodinamiko (hydrodynamics) refers to water.

3. There is no combining form for the rare gasses (heliumo, neono, argono, kriptono, ksenono, radono) because these elements are intert and do not form compounds.

Table 4.3-1

Ayola Words f or Chemical Compounds

Many simple chemical compounds, whether they exist as solids liquids or gases, can be thought of as consisting of pairs of ions having opposite charges. The positive ions are called cations, and the negative ions are called anions. The Ayola words for chemical compounds are built from three types of components:

1. a combining form for the cation

2. a combining form for the anion

3. (an) optional number of prefix(es) to specify the proportion of the components where it differs from 1:1.

Combining Forms for Cations

The combining form for a cation is simply the combining form for its element. Here are some important ones:

H⁺ hidr- C⁴⁺ karbo-

Na⁺ natr- Mg²⁺ magnez- l³⁺ alumin-

K⁺ kal- a²⁺ kalc- a³⁺ gal-

Some metallic cations are multivalent, i.e. they can exist in more than one vlence state. In English terminology, this distinction between valence states is made by the use of two different adjective suffixes: -ous for the lower valence and –ic for thehigher valence. However, this older system has been officially supplanted by the Stock system, in which valence is indicated by a Roman numeral in parentheses following the element word for the cation. In the Ayola system, this same combining form is used for both valence states, and the valence state is implicitly specified by the number prefixes, which explicitly specify the proportions of the elements in the compound. Here are some combining forms for three important multivalent cations:

Fe²⁺ or Fe³⁺ fero- Cu⁺ or Cu²⁺ kupr- Sn²⁺ or Sn⁴⁺ stan-

Combining Forms for Anions

The combining form for an anion is the combining form for its element plus the suffix ‘ id-‘. Here are some important ones:

H^- -hydrid-

F^- -florid- O^2- –oksid- N^3- -nitrid- C^4- –carbid-

Cl^- -klorid- S^2- –sulfid- P^3- –fosfid-

Br^- -bromid- Se^2- -selenid- As^3- -arsenid-

I^- -iyodid- Te^2- -telurid- Sb^3- -stibid-

Number Prefixes

Greek number prefixes are used to specify the proportion of the components in a compound where it differs from 1:1. These prefixes specify the numbers which are written as subscripts in the chemical formula . The prefixes for numbers 1 through 10 are as follows:

1. mono- 6. hexa-

2. di- 7. hepta-

3. tri- 8. okta-

4. tetra- 9. enea-

5 penta- 10. deka-

The one difference from the usual usage in this list is the use of the alternative prefix enea- for the number 9, instead of non-; non- must not be used for this purpose because it is a very important prefix signifying ‘not’.

Words for Simple Compounds

The words for simple compounds are built from the three components discussed above by joining the combining form for the cation to the combining form for the anion, including number-prefixes where necessary, and adding the noun-ending –o^*. If there is no number prefix, the number in the chemical formula is understood to be 1, so that usually mono- does not have to be used. (See section__ below, which discusses cases where mono- must be used.) The list below give examples of words for simple compounds listed according to the columns of the periodic table from which their elements come. For example, a I-VII compound is composed of a cation from column i and an anion for column 7. Here are some examples where no numberical prefixes are required:

I-VII Compounds:

HF hidrofuorido hydrogen fluoride

HCl hidroklorido hydrogen chloride

NaCl natroklorido sodium chloride

KBr kalobromido potassium bromide

II-VI Compounds:

MgO magnezoksido magnesium oxide

MgS magnezosulfido magnesium sulfide

CaO kalcoksido calcium oxide

CaS kalcosulfido calcium sulfide

III-IV Compounds:

BN boronitrido boron nitride

AlP aluminofosfido aluminum phosphate

GaAs galarsenido gallium arsenide

InSb indostibido indium antimonide

IV-IV Compounds:

SiC silikokarbido silicon carbide

SiGe silikogermanido silicon germanide

Note that the Ayola system of word building, in which the components are joined into a single word, more closely parallels the chemical bonding process, in which the elements are joined into a single material, which has entirely different physical properties from either element.

Here are some examples where number prefixes are required:

I-VI Compounds:

H₂S dihidrosulfido hydrogen sulfide

Li₂O dilitoksido lithium oxide

Na₂S dinitrosulfido sodium sulfide

Ca₂O dikalcoksido calcium oxide

II-VII Compounds:

MgF₂ magnezodifluorido magnesium fluoride

MgCl₂ magnezodiklorido magnesium chloride

CaF₂ kalcodifluorido calcium fluoride

CaCl₂ kalcodiklorido calcium chloride

Compounds Containing Multiple Cations:

CuCl kuproklorido cuprous chloride

CuCl₂ kuprodiklorido cupric chloride

FeS ferosulfido ferrous sulfide

Fe₂S₃ diferotrisulfido ferric sulfide

Note that the English terminology system, in which the number prefixes are sometimes used and sometimes not used, and in which some elements take the –ous and –ic suffixes and others do not, is cumbersome and can be confusing to the student. The Ayola system is simple, regular and follows chemical formulas.

Use of the Number Prefix Mono-

In most cases, the prefix mono- need not be used in hte words for chemical compounds because the absence of a prefix implies that the proportion is unity in the chemical formula:

CO karboksido carbon monoxide

NO nitroksido nitric oxide

However, sometimes it is necessary to use mono- to eliminate potential ambiguity. One important case is in the technical name for H₂O:

H₂O dihidromonoksido (vodo) dihydrogen oxide (water)

Dihidroksido cannot be used as a word for H₂O, because –hidroksido is a combining form for the anion OH^- , which sometimes occurs in a proportion of two in a chemical formula:

Mg(OH)₂ magnezodihidroksido magnesium hydroxide

Ca(OH)₂ kalcodihidroksido calcium hydroxide

IN these cases, the prefix di- applies to the entire compound, not –hidroksid-. In the case of dihidromonoksido, the number prefix mon- separates the combining forms –hidr- and –oksid- so that they do not act as a unit.

Common Words for Chemical Compounds

All chemical compounds have systematic words for them as described above. For most compounds, these systematic words are the only way to refer to them. However, for a few important commonly-used compounds, Ayola also provides a common word which is more convenient to use because of its brevity. It is not incorrect to use the larger systematic word in Ayola; it is just more convenient to use the shorter common word. Here are gthe systematic and common words for some important compounds:

Table 4.3-2

Polyatomic Cations

Two or more atoms may bond together to form a polyatomic cation which acts as a single unit and bonds with an anion. Two important polyatomic cations are the following:

H₃O⁺ hidron- hydronium

NH₄⁺ amon- ammonium

Examples of compounds based on these cations are:

H₃OF hidronofluorido hydronium fluoride

NH₄Cl amonoklorido ammonium chloride

(NH₄)₂S diamonosulfido ammonium sulfide

Polyatomic Anions

A more extensive group of polyatomic ions are teh polyatomic anions. A few of these have combining forms using the suffix –id-, as do th emonatomic anions:

OH^- -hidroksid- hydroxide

CN^- -cyanid- cyanide

O₂^- -peroksid- peroxide

The oxygen-containing anions, also known as oxyanions, have combining forms using the suffix –at-, indicating the usual number of oxygens, and –it-, indicating a smaller number of oxygens. Most of these anions can also combine with H⁺ to yield forms having smaller negative charges. The most important oxyanions are based on the elements carbon, nitrogen, sulphur, and phosphorous:

CO₃^2- -karbonat- carbonate

NO₃^- -nitrat- nitrate

NO₂^- -nitrit- nitrite

SO₄^2- -sulfat- sulfate

SO₃^2- -sulfit- sulfite

PO₄^3- -fosfat- phosphate

HCO₃^- -hidrokarbato- hydrogen carbonate

HSO₄^- -hidrosulfato- hydrogen sulfate

HSO₃^- -hidrosulfito- hydrogen sulfite

HPO₄^2- -hidrofosfato- hydrogen phosphate

The H+-containing oxyanions are commonly referred to in English using the prefix bi-; e.g. HCO₃^- is bicarbonate. This prefix is never used this way in Ayola.

Chlorine, and to a lesser extent, bromine and iodine have a greater number of forms with different amounts of oxygen:

ClO^- -hypoklorit- hypochlorite

ClO₂^- -klorit- chlorite

ClO₃^- -klorat- chlorate

ClO₄^- -perklorat- perchlorate

Here are some examples of compounds involving polyatomic cations:

NaOH natrohidroksido sodium hydroxide

KCN kalocyanido potassium cyanide

CaCO₃ kalcokarbonato calcium carbonate

PbSO₄ plumbosulfato lead sulfate

NaHCO₃ natrohidrokarbonato sodium bicorbonate

KClO kalohipoklorito potassium hypochlorite

Acids

Most acids can be considered can be considered to be a combination of the H+ cation with an anion. In Ayola they can be referred to either by the word for the compound alone or by a word consisting of the combining form for the anion prefixing the word acido. Here are some of the common acids:

HCl hidroklorido kloridacido hydrochloric acid

H₂CO₃ dihidrokarbonato karbonatacido carbonic acid

HNO₂ hidronitrito nitritacido nitrous acid

HNO₃ hidronitrato nitratacido nitric acid

H₂SO₃ dihidrosulfito sulfitacido sulphurous acid

H₂SO₄ dihidrosulfato sulfatacido sulfuric acid

Organic Compounds

The simplest organic molecules consist of straight chains od carbon atoms which are designated using prefixes which denote the number of carbons in the chain. The prefixes for up to 10 carbon atoms are as follows:

Table 4.3-3

Note as before that the prefix for 9 is ene(a)- instead of non-. The simplest organic compounds consist of straight chains of carbon atoms with hydrogen atoms bounded to the side, called hydrocarbons, and having the general form of C_nH_2n+2 . Their words consist of a number prefix followed by the suffix –an- followed by the noun ending –o, e.g. metano, etano, propano, etc.

In more complex organic compounds at least one of the hydrogen ion H^- is replaced by another ion such as the hydroxyl OH^- . The replacement of H^- by OH^- yields the alcohols.

CH₃OH metanolo methanol = methyl alcohol

CH₃CH₂OH etanolo ethanol = ethyl alcohol

etc.

C₈H₁₅OH oktanol octanol = octyl alcohol

etc.