Call
Metal are typically , in which a metal cation is ionically bonded to an anion. The anion can be from a single element, such as chlorine, or it can be a polyatomic ion such as the hydroxide ion.
The following rules are followed when naming metallic (ionic) compounds.
- The metal is named first. Its name is unchanged.
- The anion is named last. If it is from an element, such as chlorine, its name is changed so that one or more syllables are dropped and the ending -ide is added, such as chloride.
- Many metals, especially transition metals, have more than one possible charge, such as copper. In this case, the charge of the ion is indicated with a Roman numeral, and the name of the metal is given as copper (I) or copper (II), for example.
Examples.
Notice that Greek prefixes are not used when naming . For example,