Chemistry International
Vol. 24, No. 2
March 2002
IUPAC News
Nomenclature
of Inorganic Chemistry
by
Herbert D. Kaesz
The Commission
on Nomenclature of Inorganic Chemistry (CNIC) met for the last time
in Brisbane, Australia on 30 June to 2 July, 2001. Among those attending
were three National Representatives, Profs. Risto Laitinen, Dan Meyerstein,
and Lars Elding (standing in for Ebbe Norlander), Prof. Wim Koppenol
(a former Commission member involved in an individual project) and two
observers from the U.S. Delegation, Profs. Vince Pecararo and Bernadette
Donovan-Merkert. The observers were well received and participated fully
in the discussions.
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CNIC
Meeting, Brisbane, Australia, June/July 2001. Seated, from left
to right: Bernadette DonovanMerkert, Ture Damhus (Secretary),
H.D. Kaesz (Chair), Wim Koppenol. Standing, left to right: Alan
T. Hutton, Neil G. Connelly, James Casey, Richard M. Hartshorn,
Risto Laitinen, Dan Meyerstein, Vince Pecaro, and Lars Elding.
( Photo courtesy W. Koppenol.)
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Naming
of New Elements
Revisions
in the document "The Naming of New Elements," prepared for publication
by W. Koppenol, were discussed and approved for forwarding to the Interdivisional
Committee on Terminology, Nomenclature, and Symbols for further review.
This
document is now posted online for public review.
The
Red Book
The
Commission has been working on a revision of Red Book I, Nomenclature
of Inorganic Chemistry, under project leader Dr. N. Connelly. This revision
is planned to consist of eleven chapters, the first four of which were
thoroughly reviewed before the meeting in Brisbane. Revised versions
of six of the remaining chapters were examined in detail with completion
targeted for mid 2002. In its revised version, the Red Book I will include
the following chapters:
- General
Aims, Functions, and Methods of Chemical Nomenclature
- Grammar
- Elements,
Atoms, and Groups of Atoms
- Formulae
- Compositional
Nomenclature
- Substitutive
Nomenclature and Parent Hydride Names
- Additive
Nomenclature
- Inorganic
Acids and Derivatives
- Coordination
Compounds
- Organometallic
Compounds
- Solids
New
Projects
Other
projects being considered by the current Commission include computer
generation of names (Prof. Dress), a joint organo-metallic document
including metalla-cycles and possibly stereo-chemistry (Prof. Hutton),
and Preferred Names document for Inorganic compounds (Dr. Damhus).
Since
January 2002, activities related to systematic nomenclature are being
undertaken by the new
IUPAC Division of Chemical Nomenclature and Structure Representation.
(see also this issue News) In anticipation
of that change, CNIC held a joint meeting with the ad hoc Committee
on Chemical Identity and Nomenclature Systems, chaired by Alan McNaught,
to discuss the future of nomenclature within IUPAC.
A second
joint meeting of CNIC was with the Commission on Nomenclature of Organic
Chemistry (CNOC) to discuss areas of overlap between inorganic and organic
compounds in a Preferred Names document presented by CNOC in draft form.
There were three or four chapters with very strong overlap but not enough
time available to carry out detailed discussions in Brisbane. Following
that meeting a project to ensure minimum actual inconsistency in nomenclature
recommendations, maximum alignment of approaches and principles, and
appropriate cross-referencing between the areas covered by both the
organic Preferred Names document and the inorganic Red Book I revision,
was initiated. The interdisciplinary task group chaired by T. Damhus
met in September 2001, with the additional participation of Neil G.
Connelly and Alan McNaught. Major decisions about necessary revisions
of one or the other document in order to achieve maximum alignment have
been taken, and actual revisions are in progress. Only when the texts
are in place, can the cross-referencing and appropriate footnotes be
made to fine tune and fully align the two texts, so it is anticipated
that this part of the project must take place concurrently with the
review process in the Spring of 2002.
The
Way Forward
Finally,
CNIC heard a report from the Inorganic Division Officers. The Division
has embraced the restructuring of the Union and has striven to implement
the changes necessary following the decisions of the Council in Berlin
of terminating the current Commissions. At that time however, the Division
had two concerns with regard of the area of nomenclature. The first
is to ensure that the needs of inorganic chemists are met by IUPAC nomenclature
recommendations and that the current emphasis on preferred names does
not result in the recommendations of names that will never see general
use for inorganic compounds. The second is finding a mechanism to maintain
IUPAC's considerable current expertise in inorganic nomenclature.
Close
interaction between the new Division
of Chemical Nomenclature and Structure Representation and area experts
in the Inorganic Division
will be one key to sustaining essential and successful projects in this
area. Many of the active past members of CNIC have been invited to serve
on the Advisory Committee to the new Division. Additionally, two members
of the newly formed division, Dr.
J. G. Leigh (a former chair of CNIC) and myself (immediate past
chair of CNIC) stand ready to receive comments and hints on issues that
might be of relevance to the community concerned by inorganic nomenclature.
Herbert
D. Kaesz was a member of the Former CNIC from 1994 to 2001. He is
currently a member of the Inorganic Chemistry Division Committee, the
Division of Chemical Nomenclature and Structure Representation, and
the Committee on Chemistry Education. He is a professor at the University
of Caifornia at Los Angeles, California, USA.