NOMENCLATURE by Austin M. Patterson

H o w a C o m m i t t e e W o r k s

In a paper presented in Kansas City in March, Mary Alexander, chairman of the Commit tee on Nomenclature of the ACS Division of Organic Chemis­try, explains its operations. It is divided into groups for the study of various topics. There are at present subcom­mittees o n acids, alcohols, a ldehydes and ketones, amines, ethers, hetero­cyclic compounds , hydrocarbons, and terpenes, and on definitions, generic terms, c o m p o u n d radical names, addi­tive names, letters, and order of pre­cedence of functions. There are also advisory committees (which include outside special ists) on configuration, fluorine compounds , isotopic labeling, and on organometallic, organophos­phorous a n d organosulfur compounds.

A S u r v e y Is M a d e . Usually, in each group, a survey of present usage is pre­pared b y a member; this is used as a basis for analyzing and solving t h e problems found. T h e needs of text­books, indexes , commercial lists, and even laboratory conversation, as well as

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journal articles, a r e considered. This sometimes leads t o alternative names and often to approved exceptions. A report is t h e n made to t h e full com­mittee and, where possible, to out­siders, for criticisms and suggest ions .

W h e r e t h e Report G o e s . W h e n finally approved b y the divis ion com­mittee the report Is sent o n to the A C S Council Committee o n Nomenclature , Spelling, and Pronunciation. I t is also made available, through the National Research Council Committee on N o ­menclature, to the Commiss ion on the Nomenclature of Organic Chemistry of the International Union . I f t h e report is approved by t t ie counci l committee and the council it becomes the recom­mendat ion of the Society . T h e Or­ganic Division C o m m i t t e e strives to keep in to uch with nomenclature com­mittees in other organizations and to cooperate with them.

Limitations of C o m m i t t e e s . N o ­menclature work is t ime-consuming and requires much, correspondence and many sessions. T h e collaboration of many outside reviewers is needed, for recommendations will not be fol lowed unless they are fairly acceptable to the users. Committees cannot simplify problems which are inherently com­plex. Writ ing rules is not enough; they must be made available and inter­preted. Chemical Abstracts ( O h i o State University, Columbus 1 0 , Ohio) distributes a variety of committee deci ­sions and other nomenclature informa­tion at cost. These inc lude some of the results of the eight years of work of the Organic Division Committee,

Structure of PhentolamSne

There has been some confusion in the literature as t o the structure of the sympatholytic drug known as Ciba 7 3 3 7 , generic name phentolamine (which wi l l be u s e d hereafter by CA as an index heading), trademark n a m e Regitine, which i s correctly n a m e d by CA as Phenol, 7?7-[N-(2-irnidazolin-2-y lmethyl ) -p-toluidino] - and alterna­tively as 2-Imiclazoline, 2- [N-(ra-hy-droxyphenyl) - |)-toluidinomethyl] -. Ap­parently, in some report or other the **m" of t h e "methyl" dropped out, and this was copied. Ciba reports that it knows of no such ethyl compound .

Don't Omi t Numbers!

The example o f phentolamine, c i ted above, suggests another error frequently m a d e by scientists w h o are n o t organic chemists but h a p p e n t o b e working wi th organic compounds, as in report­ing their physical, biological , or medi­cal properties, T h a t is, they leave out

some letter like o or p, or some numeral or numerals, w i th the result that the exact structure of the compound stud­ied is not given. Confusion follows. Moral is, transcribe names carefully and don't leave out numbers, don't leave out letters, don't l eave out any­thing!

Gasol ine vs. Gasolene

Both the above spell ings have been in existence for many years, "gasoline" being the more c o m m o n . If the sub­stance were an organic base the ending "ine" would b e correct; if it were a single unsaturated hydrocarbon the end­ing "ene" m i g h t be right. But since it is a mixture there is no quest ion here of correct chemical endings . E . J. Crane is authority for the statement that the ACS has never taken any official action on the matter. CA does , however, use the spel l ing "gasoline" as the common o n e a n d as preferred b y the American Soc ie ty for Test ing Materials, the American Standards Association, and Webster's N e w International Dict ion­ary. O n the other h a n d "kerosene" is commoner than "kerosine." T h e ASTM and ASA h a v e preferred "kerosine," probably in order to make it consistent with "gasoline," and CA has adopted "kerosine" as the choice of an authori­tat ive group in the petro leum field. Webster defines the term under "kero­sene" but says that "kerosine" is "pre­ferred by certain technical authorities."

From England

T h e chemical research manager for May & Baker Ltd. writes: DEAR SIR:

Ammonio and Similar Prefixes We were interested in the paragraph

headed "Names for Ions'" in the Nomen­clature columns of your issue of Jan. 4 since it drew from its obscurity the perti­nent and useful footnote to the paper by J. F. Bunnett et al. (J. Am. Chem. Soc, 75, 642, 1953 ) which we had not hitherto noted. We had, ourselves, earlier been confronted with a similar nomenclature difficulty and had reached the same con­clusion that the use of the "ammonio" type prefix would promote simpler and less ambiguous naming of quaternary am­monium compounds. W e realized that there might well be difficulties and had attempted to air the problem (Chemistry 6- Industry, 1952, 670) in the hope that some agreement might be reached before, rather than after, confusion arose. Per­haps the fact that two groups of chem­ists have independently found the same solution to their similar needs may stimu­late more thought and some action on the part of those responsible for coordinating and solving nomenclature difficulties, pre­sumably the Nomenclature Commission of the IUPAC.

H. J. BARBER Dagenham, Essex

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