As shown in the previous example of sulfur monoxide, dioxide, and trioxide, prefixes are used to denote the number of certain elements. Sulfur monoxide was indicated by the prefix mono at the beginning of the compound name.

Sulfur dioxide was indicated by what prefix?

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di

Sulfur trioxide was indicated by what prefix?

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tri

Now drag each prefix to the number that it represents.

Make note that generally mono is only used for oxygen and not ever added to the first element in the name. This is why the example given was not monosulfur monoxide.

The table below gives the names for some of the binary covalent compounds. Study the table and then answer the question that follows.

What does each of the second molecules, in the examples above, end in?

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ide

The second part of the element’s name is reduced to its root and followed by ide. See if you can match the root to the element symbol. Use the periodic table to help you.

Fill in the blanks below for the steps of writing out the IUPAC name from a covalent compound formula.