Binary Covalent Compounds
Nonmetal + Nonmetal + "-ide."
Add the appropriate Latin prefix to each element name to denote the number of atoms of each element present in a molecule of the compound. This method is generally not used with ionic compounds (see below). For example, K2O is usually not called dipotassium monoxide; it is simply potassium oxide. P4O6, however, would be tetraphosphorus hexoxide. Some elements beginning with vowels (Oxygen, for example) replace the vowel ending of its prefix; mono- + Oxide = Monoxide, O4 = Tetroxide, O5 = Pentoxide, and so on.
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