• Question: how would u decide the name of a chemical discovered

    Asked by anon-254469 on 14 May 2020.
    • Photo: James Beswick

      James Beswick answered on 14 May 2020: last edited 14 May 2020 9:56 am

      There is a specials set of rules on how to properly ‘name’ chemicals – but often when the chemical is marketed as a drug then a different name is given so it is more recognisable. (RS)-2-(4-(2-methylpropyl)phenyl)propanoic acid is the chemical name for ‘Ibuprofen’! So sometimes we use an easier name to identify a particular chemical structure. Some of my favourite chemical names are ‘Penguinone’, ‘Moronic Acid’, ‘Curious Chloride’ and ‘Windowpane’!!!

    • Photo: Emma Daniels

      Emma Daniels answered on 14 May 2020:

      Hi Jenny, fab question! Typically, the IUPAC naming system is used which gives some rules to name new chemicals and compounds by. It depends on the types of atoms and groups that are in the compound, the number of atoms it includes, and the position of each group within the molecule. For example, if a molecule has an alcohol group (OH) in it, then it’s name will end in ‘ol’, like Ethanol. It can get quite complicated, but some of the rules are explained in this video if you’re interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPPvqCnNgCM

      However, I often give my chemicals nicknames, because the ‘proper’ names can be a real mouthful! I make things from a sugar called Mannose, so I call most of my things mannose-something.

    • Photo: Gaby Clarke

      Gaby Clarke answered on 14 May 2020:

      James and Emma have both covered this well. But personally, if it was up to me to name a chemical, I would probably name it after one of my cats!

    • Photo: Alena Pance

      Alena Pance answered on 15 May 2020:

      I would try to find something funny with a pun. For example a chemist friend of mine developed a red fluorescent Ph indicator compound and because it was based on rhodopsin and it was Ph indicator, he called it Phrodo… I thought that was brilliant!

Comments