http://www.ck12.org Chapter 7. Chemical Nomenclature
FIGURE 7.6
Nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) is a reddish-brown
toxic gas that is a prominent air pollu-
tant produced by internal combustion en-
gines.The rules for using the prefix system of nomenclature of binary molecular compounds can be summarized as follows.
- Generally, the less electronegative element is written first in the formula, though there are a few exceptions.
Carbon is always first in a formula, and hydrogen is written after nitrogen in a formula such as NH 3. The
order in which common nonmetals are written in binary compound formulas is the same as their order in the
following series: C, P, N, H, S, I, Br, Cl, O, F. - The first element in the formula is written first in the name of the compound, along with the appropriate prefix.
No prefix is used if there is only one atom of the first element.