Inchemistry, atrivial name is a non-systematic name for achemical substance. That is, the name is not recognized according to the rules of any formal system ofchemical nomenclature such asIUPAC inorganic orIUPAC organic nomenclature. A trivial name is not aformal name and is usually acommon name.
Generally, trivial names are not useful in describing the essential properties of the thing named, such as the molecular structure of a chemical compound. And, in some cases, trivial names can be ambiguous or carry different meanings in different industries or different geographic regions (for example, a trivial name such aswhite metal can mean various things). A limited number of trivial chemical names areretained names, an accepted part of the nomenclature.
Trivial names often arise in the common language; they may come from historical usages in, for example,alchemy. Many trivial names pre-date the institution of formal naming conventions. Names can be based on a property of the chemical, including appearance (color, taste or smell), consistency, and crystal structure; a place where it was found or where the discoverer comes from; the name of a scientist; a mythological figure; an astronomical body; the shape of the molecule; and even fictional figures. All elements that have been isolated have trivial names.
In scientific documents, international treaties, patents and legal definitions,names for chemicals are needed thatidentify them unambiguously. This need is satisfied bysystematic names. One such system, established by theInternational Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC), was established in 1950. Other systems have been developed by theAmerican Chemical Society, theInternational Organization for Standardization, and theWorld Health Organization. However, chemists still use many names that are not systematic because they are traditional or because they are more convenient than the systematic names. These are calledtrivial names. The word "trivial", often used in a pejorative sense, was intended to mean "commonplace".[1]
In addition to trivial names, chemists have constructedsemi-trivial names by appending a standard symbol to a trivial stem.[2] Some trivial and semi-trivial names are so widely used that they have been officially adopted by IUPAC; these are known asretained names.
The common names used forpesticides did not become commonplace through repeated informal usage, The names are granted byISO committee (TC81), who approve the common name according to ISO1750.[3]
Traditional names of elements are trivial, some originating inalchemy. IUPAC has accepted these names, but has also defined systematic names of elements that have not yet been prepared. It has adopted a procedure by which the scientists who are credited with preparing an element can propose a new name. Once the IUPAC has accepted such a (trivial) name, it replaces the systematic name.[1]
Nine elements were known by theMiddle Ages:gold,silver,tin,mercury,copper,lead,iron,sulfur, andcarbon.[4] Mercury was named after the planet, but its symbol was derived from the Latinhydrargyrum, which itself comes from the Greekυδράργυρος, meaning liquid silver; mercury is also known as quicksilver in English.[1] The symbols for the other eight are derived from their Latin names.[4]
Systematic nomenclature began afterLouis-Bernard Guyton de Morveau stated the need for "a constant method of denomination, which helps the intelligence and relieves the memory".[5] The resulting system was popularized byAntoine Lavoisier's publication ofMéthode de nomenclature chimique (Method of Chemical Nomenclature) in 1787. Lavoisier proposed that elements be named after their properties. For the next 125 years, most chemists followed this suggestion, using Greek and Latin roots to compose the names; for example,hydrogen ("water-producing"),oxygen ("acid-producing"),nitrogen ("soda-producing"),bromine ("stink"), and argon were based on Greek roots, while the names ofiodine andchlorine were derived from the Greek words for their characteristic colors.Indium,rubidium, andthallium were similarly named for the colors of particular lines in theiremission spectra.Iridium, which forms compounds of many different colors, takes its name fromiris, the Latin for "rainbow".[4] Thenoble gases have all been named for their origin or properties.Helium comes from the Greekhelios, meaning "Sun" because it was first detected as a line in the spectrum of the Sun (it is not known why the suffix-ium, which is used for metals, was chosen).[6] The other noble gases areneon ("new"),argon ("slow, lazy"),krypton ("hidden"),xenon ("stranger"), andradon ("from radium").[7]
Many more elements have been given names that have little or nothing to do with their properties. Elements have been named for celestial bodies (helium,selenium,tellurium, for the Sun, Moon, and Earth;cerium andpalladium forCeres andPallas, twoasteroids). They have been named for mythological figures, includingTitans in general (titanium) andPrometheus in particular (promethium); Roman and Greek gods (uranium,neptunium, andplutonium) and their descendants (tantalum forTantalus, a son of Zeus, andniobium forNiobe, a daughter of Tantalus); and Norse deities (vanadium for the goddessVanadis andthorium for the godThor).[7]
Some elements were named for aspects of the history of their discovery. In particular,technetium andpromethium were so named because the first samples detected wereartificially synthesised; neither of the two has any isotope sufficiently stable to occur in nature on Earth in significant quantities. Theconnection to the Titan Prometheus was that he had been fabled to have stolen fire from the gods for mankind.
Discoverers of some elements named them after their home country or city.Marie Curie namedpolonium afterPoland;ruthenium,gallium,germanium, andlutetium were based on the Latin names for Russia, France, Germany, and Paris. Other elements are named after the place where they were discovered. Four elements —terbium,erbium,ytterbium, andyttrium — were named after the Swedish villageYtterby, where ores containing them were extracted.[4] Other elements named after places aremagnesium (afterMagnesia),strontium,scandium,europium,thulium (after an old Roman name for an unidentified northern region),holmium,copper (derived fromCyprus, where it was mined in the Roman era),hafnium,rhenium,americium,berkelium,californium, anddarmstadtium.[7]
For the elements up to 92 (uranium), naming elements after people was discouraged. The two exceptions are indirect, the elements being named after minerals that were themselves named after people. These weregadolinium (found ingadolinite, named after the Finnish chemistJohan Gadolin) andsamarium (the mineralsamarskite was named after a Russian mining engineer,Vasili Samarsky-Bykhovets). Among thetransuranium elements, this restriction was relaxed; there followedcurium (after the Curies),einsteinium (Albert Einstein),fermium (Enrico Fermi),mendelevium (Dmitri Mendeleev),nobelium (Alfred Nobel) andlawrencium (Ernest Lawrence).[7][8]: 320
IUPAC has established international standards for naming elements. The first scientist or laboratory to isolate an element has the right to propose a name; after a review process, a final decision is made by the IUPAC Council. In keeping with tradition, names can be based on a mythological concept or character, astronomical object, mineral, place, property of the element or scientist.[5] For those elements that have not yet been discovered, IUPAC has established a systematic name system. The names combine syllables that represent the digits of theatomic number, followed by "-ium". For example, "unununium" is element 111 ("un" being the syllable for 1).[9] However, once the element has been found, the systematic name is replaced by a trivial one, in this caseroentgenium.[1]
The IUPAC names for elements are intended for use in the official languages. At the time of the first edition of the IUPAC Red Book (which contains the rules for inorganic compounds), those languages were English and French; now English is the sole official language.[10] However, other languages still have their own names for elements. The chemical symbol fortungsten, W, is based on the German nameWolfram, which is found inwolframite and comes from the German for "wolf's foam", how the mineral was known to Saxon miners. The nametungsten means "heavy stone", a description ofscheelite, another mineral in which tungsten is found.[11] Russian names for hydrogen, oxygen and carbon arevodorod,kislorod anduglerod (generating water, acid and coal respectively). The German names for hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen areWasserstoff (water substance),Sauerstoff (acid substance), andStickstoff (smothering substance). The corresponding Chinese names areqīngqì (light gas),yǎngqì (nourishing gas), anddànqì (diluting gas). A method for translating chemical names into Chinese was developed by John Fryer and Xu Shou in 1871. Where traditional names were well established, they kept them; otherwise, a single character was created.[N 1]
Early terminology for compound chemicals followed similar rules to the naming of elements. The names could be based on the appearance of the substance, including all five senses. In addition, chemicals were named after the consistency, crystalline form, a person or place, its putative medical properties or method of preparation.[13]: 68
Salt (sodium chloride) is soluble and is used to enhance the taste of food. Substances with similar properties came to be known as salts, in particularEpsom salt (magnesium sulfate, found in a bitter saline spring in the English town ofEpsom).Ammonium (with the little-used systematic name azanium[14]) was first extracted fromsal ammoniac, meaning "salt of Amun". AncientRomans noticed crystals of it inEgyptian temples devoted to the godAmun; the crystals had condensed from the smoke of burning camel dung.[15]Lead acetate was calledsugar of lead.[13]: 70, 77–78 However, other names likesugar of lead (lead(II) acetate),butter of antimony (antimony trichloride),oil of vitriol (sulfuric acid), andcream of tartar (potassium bitartrate) borrowed their language from the kitchen.[13]: 65–66 Many more names were based on color; for example,hematite,orpiment, andverdigris come from words meaning "blood-like stone", "gold pigment", and "green of Greece".[13]: 70
Some names are based on their use.Lime is a general name for materials combining calcium with carbonates, oxides or hydroxides; the name comes from a root "sticking or adhering"; its earliest use was asmortar for construction.[16]
Water has several systematic names, includingoxidane (the IUPAC name),hydrogen oxide, anddihydrogen monoxide (DHMO). The latter was the basis of thedihydrogen monoxide hoax, a document that was circulated warning readers of the dangers of the chemical (for example, it isfatal if inhaled).[17][18]
In organic chemistry, some trivial names derive from a notable property of the thing being named. For instance,lecithin, the common name forphosphatidylcholine, was originally isolated fromegg yolk. The word is coined from the Greek λέκιθος (lékithos) foryolk.[19][20]
Many trivial names continue to be used because their sanctioned equivalents are considered too cumbersome for everyday use. For example, "tartaric acid", a compound found inwine, has a systematic name of 2,3-dihydroxybutanedioic acid. The pigmentβ-Carotene has an IUPAC name of 1,3,3-trimethyl-2-[(1E,3E,5E,7E,9E,11E,13E,15E,17E)-3,7,12,16-tetramethyl-18-(2,6,6-trimethylcyclohexen-1-yl)octadeca-1,3,5,7,9,11,13,15,17-nonaenyl]cyclohexene.[21] However, the trivial name can be potentially confusing. Based on its name, one might come to the conclusion that the moleculetheobromine contains one or more bromine atoms. In reality it is an alkaloid similar in structure to caffeine.
Several organic molecules have semitrivial names where the suffixes-ane (for analkane) or-ene (for analkene) are added to a name based on the shape of the molecule.[8]: xi Some are pictured below. Other examples includebarrelene (shaped like a barrel),[8]: 58 fenestrane (having a window-pane motif),[8]: 55 ladderane (a ladder shape),olympiadane (having a shape with the same topology as the Olympic rings) andquadratic acid (also known assquaric acid).
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Thebohemic acid complex is a mixture of chemicals obtained through fermentation of a species ofactinobacteria. In 1977 the components were isolated and have been found useful as antitumor agents andanthracycline antibiotics. The authors named the complex (and one of its components, bohemamine) after the operaLa bohème byPuccini, and the remaining components were named after characters in the opera: alcindoromycin (Alcindoro), collinemycin (Colline), marcellomycin (Marcello), mimimycin (Mimi), musettamycin (Musetta), rudolphomycin (Rodolfo) and schaunardimycin (Schaunard).[8]: 64 [22] However, the relationships between the characters do not correctly reflect the chemical relationships.[23]
A research lab at Lepetit Pharmaceuticals, led by Piero Sensi, was fond of coining nicknames for chemicals that they discovered, later converting them to a form more acceptable for publication. The antibioticrifampicin was named after a French movie,Rififi, about a jewel heist. They nicknamed another antibiotic "Mata Hari" before changing the name tomatamycin.[23]
