These guidelines have been put together by the WikiProject Chemicals to help editors improve the 1000 or so articles on Wikipedia which are about
chemical compounds.
Title
There is a misconception among certain editors that the title of a chemical compound article must be the
systematic name of the compound: this is not always the case.
"Generally, article naming should give priority to what the majority of English speakers would most easily recognize, with a reasonable minimum of ambiguity, while at the same time making linking to those articles easy and second nature."
IUPAC preferred name vs. Systematic name
IUPAC recommends [1] the use of non-systematic names for some organic compounds, and these recommendations should be followed in article titles. Examples:
Traditionally, the names of three
elements have been spelt differently in US and British English. With the onset of computer searching of databases it became necessary to standardize these spellings as follows:[2]
These international standard spellings should be used in all chemistry-related articles on English Wikipedia, even if they conflict with the other national spelling varieties used in the article.
Use of Stock nomenclature
Stock nomenclature for inorganic compounds is based on the indication of the
oxidation number (as a roman numeral, in parentheses) of each of the major elements in the compound, e.g.iron(III) chloride. It is widely, if sometimes incorrectly, used on Wikipedia for the titles of articles about inorganic compounds. It is not obligatory, as there are other acceptable methods for naming these compounds, but it is often preferred as the most common non-ambiguous name for a substance. The following guidelines are based on current WikiBestPractice:
Only the
cationic element (i.e. the element whose name appears unchanged in the compound name) is assigned its oxidation number. Except in rare cases (none at present), we do not assign the oxidation number in the
anion: hence
potassium permanganatenot potassium manganate(VII),
sodium hypochloritenot sodium chlorate(I).
There is no space between the end of the element name and the opening parenthesis: hence
silver(I) fluoridenot silver (I) fluoride. Note that this is an exception to the usual English style for parentheses.
It is not necessary to specify the oxidation number when there is no possibility of ambiguity in the compound title: hence
sodium chloridenot sodium(I) chloride.
Stock nomenclature should only be used for ionic compounds. Compounds with a substantial degree of covalancy should be named by stoichiometric nomenclature: hence
titanium tetrachloridenot titanium(IV) chloride.
Stock nomenclature should not be used for compounds with mixed or non-integral oxidation numbers: hence
triiron tetraoxidenot iron(II,III) oxide (in fact, this article is difficult to name and, as an exception, redirects to
magnetite).
For technical reasons, it is not recommended to use non-numerical prefixes in article titles. This includes:
Positional identifiers
ortho-, meta-, para-, α-, β-, γ-
Stereochemical identifiers
cis-, trans-, (E)-, (Z)-
Chiral identifiers
(R)-, (S)-, D-, L-, (+)-, (−)-
Note that iso in such compounds as
isopropanol is not only permitted but recommended. No hyphen is used in these cases.
When the chosen aticle title starts with a number, the first letter of the compound name should be capitalized: hence
1,1,1-Trichloroethanenot 1,1,1-trichloroethane. A redirect from the uncapitalized version should be created to simplify linking from other articles. See also Capitalization below.
If basic (often numerical) data is included in the article text, the readability of the article is reduced.
They reflect a certain consensus as to what data is appropriate for an encyclopedic article.
They promote a common visual style among Wikipedia articles on a given subject area.
They are well supported by the MediaWiki software (unlike HTML tables), and easily adapted (by individual editors) to the different needs of different articles.
{{chembox}} is more appropriate for full-length articles.
To include a chembox in an article:
Edit the article to include {{subst:chembox}} (or {{subst:chembox simple inorganic}} or {{subst:chembox simple organic}}, as appropriate) as the first line of the article source code.
Save your edit with the
Edit summary "Chembox added".
Re-edit the article to fill in the spaces in the infobox, and to make whatever other changes are necessary for the particular compound.
For formatting reasons, the code for the infobox should be at the very beginning of the source code.
Introductory paragraph
Preparation and Production
Uses and/or Reactions
Other sections
Occurrence
History
Toxicology
Safety
The hazards associated with a chemical compound are an integral part of the description of that compound.
Two main rules:
The description of hazards should avoid speculation. This is partly an extension of Wikipedia
NPOV policy, but not entirely. There is no need to include a section which merely states "all chemical compounds should be treated with the utmost precaution": such a section tells the reader nothing. If there are no known (or reasonably suspected) hazards, there is nothing for Wikipedia to say.
The description of hazards should avoid hyperbole. The role of Wikipedia is to give balanced and accurate information, to allow its readers to reach their own conclusions.
Descriptions of hazards should, as far as possible, be based on published, peer-reviewed sources (which should, of course, be cited at the appropriate point in the article). A list of resources for chemical safety information is given in the external links section of these guidelines.