What's in a name?
Many chemical compounds have several possible names. Peter Nelson, University of Hull, asks: 'Which ones should teachers use?'
The Association for Science Education (ASE) has addressed this question, and published a list of names for use at 16-19.1 These names are based on general rules for naming compounds approved by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC).2 ASE names are used by examination boards, and have the approval of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC).3
There is, however, a problem with these names in that many of them are different from those recommended by IUPAC (see Table).2,4 This is because IUPAC does not recommend a systematic name when another name is widely used.
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