Naming Covalent Compounds

Lesson 6: Naming Compounds

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Covalent compounds are made of nonmetallic elements.

The name of a covalent compound will include prefixes that tell the number of atoms of each element.

Number of atoms	Greek Prefix
1	mon-
2	di-
3	tri-
4	tetra-
5	penta-
6	hexa-
7	hepta-
8	octa-

The name of a covalent compound uses the full name of the first element and is followed by a shortened name of the second element along with an -ide ending. The chortled name of the second element is usually the first syllable of the name of the second element. The Greek prefixes are used to tell the number of atoms present. The prefix mon- is not used if there is only one atom of the first element. For only one atom of the second element though, the mon- prefix is used.

Examples:

Chemical Formula	first element name	second element name	shortened name of second element	chemical name
	carbon	oxygen	ox-	carbon dioxide
	nitrogen	oxygen	ox-	dinitrogen tetroxide or dinitrogen tetraoxide
	sulfur	fluorine	flour-	sulfur hexafluoride
	hydrogen	oxygen	ox-	dihydrogen monoxide