-ide and -ate, how do you know which one to use?

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-ide and -ate, how do you know which one to use?

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Answer 1 · 2015-11-08T03:57:43

-ide: used when the anion is monoatomic.
-ate: used when the anion is polyatomic (but still depends on the oxidation state of the ion)

Explanation:

In naming ionic compounds, the name of the metal cation (positively charged) usually goes first followed by the name of the nonmetal anion (negatively charged).

The suffix -ide is only used if the nonmetal anion is monoatomic (meaning one atom).

e.g. chloride ( $C l^{1-}$ $Cl^"1-"$ ); bromide ( $B r^{1-}$ $Br^"1-"$ ); iodide ( $I^{1-}$ $I^"1-"$ ); fluoride ( $F^{1-}$ $F^"1-"$ ); hydride ( $H^{1-}$ $H^"1-"$ ); oxide ( $O^{2-}$ $O^"2-"$ )

Notable exceptions to the above rule are the hydroxide ( $O H^{-1}$ $OH^"-1"$ ) and cyanide ( $C N^{1-}$ $CN^"1-"$ ) ions as they were assumed to be monoatomic ions when they were first discovered.

The use of the suffix -ate, on the other hand, is not that simple. The metal anion must be (1) polyatomic (meaning many atoms) and (2) must satisfy the required oxidation state.

![http://mrkubuske.com/tag/ions/](useruploads.socratic.org)

As seen in the image above suggests, the use of the suffix -ate versus the use of the suffix -ite is self-evident.

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-ide and -ate, how do you know which one to use?

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