Chemical nomenclature

Inorganic Compounds

Inorganic compounds consist of the remaining compounds divided in to two groups; Ionic compounds and Molecular compounds

Ionic Compounds

The names of ionic compounds are based on the names of the ion which they are composed. For example, NaCl is called sodium chloride after the Na⁺ or sodium ion, and the Cl^- or chloride ion. The positive ion is always named first and listed first in writing the formula for the compound. The negative ion is named and written last. To see how the names of these ions arise, consider first the naming of positive ions, also called cations. Ions may be monatomic (composed of a single atom) or polyatomic (formed from two or more atoms). Monatomic cations are most commonly formed from metallic elements.
These ions take the name of the element itself:

Na⁺ Sodium ion

Zn⁺ Zinc ion

Al³⁺ Aluminum ion

If an element can form more than one positive ion, the positive charge of the ion is indicated by a Roman numeral in parentheses following the name of the metal:

Fe²⁺ Iron(II) ion

Fe³⁺ Iron(III) ion

Cu⁺ Copper(I) ion

Cu²⁺ Copper(II) ion

An older method still widely used for distinguishing between two differently charged ions of a metal is to apply the endings –ous or –ic. These endings represent the lower and higher charged ions, respectively, They are added to the root of the Latin name of the element:

Fe²⁺ Ferrous ion

Fe³⁺ Ferric ion

Cu⁺ Cuprous ion

Cu²⁺ Cupric ion

Organic Compounds

Organic compounds contain carbon, usually in combination with hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, or sulfur. Organic compounds were first associated only with plants and animals. However, a great number of organic compounds have now been prepared that do not occur in nature.