Literature

The standard IUPAC manual on systematic Nomenclature of Organic Chemistry1 has recently been supplemented by a “Guide” promulgating current developments in this domain2. A wealth of excellent illustrative material concerning the application of systematic nomenclature to ring compounds is presented in the Ring Index3. Important topical revisions and extensions of the nomenclature for fused rings4, von Baeyer polycycles5, spiro compounds6, and cyclophanes7 complement the older compendia. Since in the framework of the registry and index systems of Chemical Abstracts not only unambiguous but to a much greater extent unique names are required, further subtilizations and extensions of the IUPAC rules have been effectuated there. Details are given in the so-called Index Guides attached to the respective five-year indexes8. The same holds for the particular interpretations of the IUPAC rules in Beilstein’s Handbook of Organic Chemistry — regrettably these are not generally accessible. Detailed rules for the nomenclature of biochemistry and natural products have recently been reissued9. Extensive instructions for naming metal- and metalloid-organic compounds can be found in the updated rules of Inorganic Nomenclature10 as well as in a very recent compilation in Pure and Applied Chemistry11. Also very recent is a new, thoroughly revised edition of the nomenclature recommendations for carbohydrates12. All new developments and revisions in the area of chemical nomenclature worked out by the IUPAC nomenclature commissions are routinely published in the Journal of Pure and Applied Chemistry.