Ask A Scientist Chemistry Archive

name         Neil S.
status       educator
age          40s

Question -   What is the reason for the naming of NaHCO3?
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I assume you mean "sodium bicarbonate" the prefix "bi-" in older naming convention stood for 
"hydrogen". The more modern nomenclature would be "sodium hydrogen carbonate".

Vince Calder
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You mean Sodium Hydrogen Carbonate?    Or perhaps Sodium BiCarbonate...

BiCarbonate, BiSulfate, BiPhosphate... to represent partial substitution of metal cations by 
hydrogen they use the prefix "bi-", but I do not know why.
At least it is short, as is needed in any concise technical jargon.

"-ate" refers to the normal oxygen-saturated form of an inorganic negative ion.     For 
chlorine,  it's "chlorate" (ClO3)-
"-ite" is mono-unsaturated, as in "chlorite"   (CLO2)-
"per-"..."-ate' is supersaturated, "perchlorate " (CLO4)-
"hypo-"..."ite" is multiple-unsaturated.  "hypochlorite"  (CLO)-

Jim Swenson
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