58 



NA TURE 



[May 19, 1892 



may still be used colloquially is, as I have already said, 

 scarcely a justification of the dismissal of such names 

 from the official nomenclature, as our successors may be 

 expected to object more and more decidedly to a multiplex 

 system as chemical science progresses, and to insist on 

 the adoption of the official as the sole system : the extent 

 to which familiar trivial names shall be retained in the 

 official system is therefore a matter of great importance. 



As one aim and object must be to devise a system 

 which is significant and logical throughout, no considera- 

 tions must be allowed to prevail which will defeat this, 

 and it will not suffice to quote present usage in support of 

 illogical proposals ; but this has been done. Thus the 

 Congress decided (Res. 46) to name compounds of the 

 type R'.Ng. R' a^-^-compounds, while retaining the name 

 fl'/a^'^-chloride for CgHs . NoCl. It matters not to us 

 that the manufacturers have chosen to call the colours 

 derived from rt'/azo-compounds azo-dyes ; if substances 

 such as (C6H5)2S are termed thio, and compounds such 

 as (CoH5)2S2 ^//thio-compounds (Res. 43), we are bound 

 to be consistent, and apply the significant term diazo- to 

 substances containing two nitrogen atoms. Resolution 

 46 ought therefore to be in part rescinded. I call atten- 

 tion to this case as an illustration of the tendency to 

 break away from uniformity in favour of what may fairly 

 be termed popular prejudice, which will require to be 

 most carefully guarded against if the various sections of 

 our system are to harmonize. 



It will be gratifying to English chemists that the prin- 

 ciple advocated for many years past by our Chemical 

 Society, and enforced in its " Instructions to Abstractors " 

 — that particular terminations should be regarded as in- 

 dicative of particular functions, and should therefore be 

 restricted to particular classes of compounds— has been 

 legalized and extended by the Congress. This is a step of 

 great importance, as we may expect that it will aflfect even 

 trivial names, and that in future names will be given to 

 new substances which will to a certain extent afford a 

 clue to their nature ; the hopeless confusion which now 

 reigns supreme in the pages of the Berichie, for example, 

 owing to the disregard of this principle by our German 

 colleagues — who have hitherto been, as a rule, almost uni- 

 formly neglectful in matters of nomenclature— will, it may 

 be hoped, ere long give way to more orderly treatment. 



But the importance of applying this principle logically 

 was not fully grasped even at the Congress, inasmuch as 

 it was decided to affix the termination ine to acetylenic 

 hydrocarbons, notwithstanding that this termination is 

 admittedly indicative of basic properties. If, however, 

 a suitable suffix ending in ene could be thought of, there 

 would probably be little difficulty in securing its accept- 

 ance, in which case unsaturated hydrocarbons generally 

 would have names ending in ene, and saturated hydro- 

 carbons names ending in ane, and these terminations could 

 be reserved exclusively for hydrocarbons. 



It will be obvious from the foregoing remarks that 

 although a solid foundation for our future system of 

 nomenclature has been laid, much remains to be done 

 before a mature design, perfect in all its details, can be 

 presented for adoption. At the meeting the hope was 

 expressed that a decision might be speedily taken, to 

 enable Beilstein to utilize the proposals in the preparation 

 of the third edition of his marvellous work ; but it is clear 

 that we are not yet so far advanced as to make this pos- 

 sible or even desirable, and it would be most unfortunate if 

 Beilstein were at the present juncture to promulgate a system 

 which is manifestly incomplete : nothing can be worse in 

 such a case than to consent in haste, when it is evident 

 that this would surely involve repentance at leisure. 



Those of us who are interested in the work, and com- 

 petent to advance it, must now test in detail the application 

 of the proposals which have been provisionally adopted, 

 and we must assist in contributing to the ultimate estab- 

 lishment of a system on the broad lines of policy laid 



NO. I I 77, VOL. 46] 



down for our guidance at the Congress. As it is not 

 improbable that in the future, owing to the extended use 

 of our language, the major proportion of chemical students 

 will speak English, it is essential that due attention be paid 

 to the matter here in England, so that a system may be 

 devised which we can make use of without difficulty. 

 Henry E. Armstrong. 



Resolutions prises par le Congris. 



1. A cote des precedes habituels de nomenclature, il sera 

 etabli un nom officiel permettant de retrouver chaque corps sous 

 une rubrique unique dans les tables et dictionnaires. 



Le Congres exprime le voeu que les auteurs prennent I'habitude 

 de mentionner dans leurs memoires, entre parentheses, le nom 

 officiel a cote du nom choisi par eux. 



2. On decide de ne s'occuper, pour le moment, que de ce qui 

 concerne les composes de constitution connue, et de remettre a 

 plus tard la question des corps a constitution inconnue. 



3. La desinence ane est adoptee pour tous les hydrocarbures 

 satures de la serie grasse. 



4. Les noms actuels des quatre premiers hydrocarbures 

 satures {methane, ethane, propane, butane) sont conserves; on 

 emploiera les noms derives des nombres grecs pour ceux qui ont 

 plus de quatre atomes de carbone. Ces noms designeront les 

 hydrocarbures normaux. 



5. Les hydrocarbures i chaine arborescente sont regardes 

 comme derives des hydrocarbures normaux, et on rapporte leur 

 nom a la chaine normale la plus longue qu'on puisse elablir dans 

 leur formuie. 



6. Le numerotage des chaines laterales partira de I'atome de 

 carbone terminal le plus rapproche d'une chaine laterale ; dans 

 le cas oil les chaines laterales les plus voisines des extremites 

 seraient placees symetriquement, la plus simple decidera du 

 choix. 



7. Lorsqu'un residu se substitue dans une chaine laterale, on 

 emploie metho-, itho-, etc., a la place de methyl-, ethyl-, prefixes 

 reserves pour le cas oil la substitution se fait dans la chaine 

 principale. 



8. Dans les hydrocarbures ayant une seule double liaison, on 

 remplacera la terminaison ane de I'hydrocarbure sature 

 correspondant par la terminaison ene (ex. ethene) ; s'il y a deux 

 doubles liaisons, on terminera en dihte (ex. propadiene), s'il y en 

 a trois, en triene, etc. Si cela est necessaire, la place de la 

 double liaison est indiquee par le numero du premier atome de 

 carbone sur lequel s'appuie cette double liaison. 



9. Les noms des hydrocarbures a triple liaison se termineront 

 pareillement en ine, diine et triine (ex. ethine pour acetylene, 

 propine pour allylene, hexadiine pour dipropargyle). 



10. Dans le cas oil il y aurait simultanement des doubles et 

 triples liaisons, on emploiera les desinences mine, dienine, etc. 



11. En ce qui concerne les hydrocarbures satures a chaine 

 fermee, ils prendront les noms des hydrocarbures satures corre- 

 spondants de la serie grasse precedes du prefixe cyclo (ex. cyclo- 

 hexane pour hexamethylene). 



12. Les atomes de carbone d'une chaine laterale serontdesignes 

 par le meme chifFre que I'atome de carbone auquel la chaine est 

 attachee. Ils porteront un indice qui indiquera leur rang dans 

 la chaine laterale en partant du point d'attache. 



Dans le cas oil deux chaines seraient attachees au meme atome 

 de carbone, les indices de la plus simple d'entre elles seront 

 accentues. 



Le meme mode de numerotage est adopte pour les chaines 

 laterales des chaines fermees. 



13. Les hydrocarbures non satures seront numerotes comme 

 les hydrocarbures satures correspondants. Dans le cas d'ambiguite 

 ou d'absence de chaine laterale, on placera le 11° i au carJDone 

 terminal le plus rapproche de la liaison d'ordre le plus eleve. 



14. Le numerotage des hydrocarbures est conserve pour tous 

 leurs produits de substitution. 



15. On nommera les alcools et les phenols du nom de I'hydro- 

 carbure dont ils derivent, termine par le suffixe ol (ex. pentanol, 

 pentenol, etc.). 



16. Quand on a affaire a des alcools ou a des phenols poly- 

 atomiques, on intercalera, entre le nom de I'hydrocarbure fonda- 

 mental et le suffixe ol, une des particules di, tri, tStra, etc., 

 suivant I'ordre de la polyatomicite (ex. propane-triol pour 

 glycerine). 



17. Le nom de mercaptan est abandonne, et cette fonction 

 sera designee par le suffixe thiol (ex. ethane-thiol). 



