3.1 The Problem of Naming

The word nomenclature refers to the systems in use for naming molecules. We have historic names for common substances like water, which linguists have determined was already called something like "wodr" even 7,000 years ago. Other compunds like benzene, toluene, cinnamaldehyde, and citral are named after natural materials and organisms that they were first found in or that they resemble in some way, e.g. citral occurs in citrus and smells like citrus.

But many many compounds exist that either don't have this type of common name, or have been named for various purposes such as marketing. What's the molecular structure of calone, or saccharin, or fluoxetine? These names give no clues. Fortunately, there are systems that make it possible to name any compound by its molecular structure in an unambiguous way.

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