User:Mdewman6/Chemical groups naming convention

Groups of compounds

Organic compound classes and functional groups

For articles about classes of organic compounds, the singular class name from the IUPAC "Glossary of Class Names" is usually used, e.g. alkane, carboxylic acid, ether, ketone, acyl chloride. Articles about functional groups should use the name most commonly used to refer to the group in reliable sources (generally, the name of the corresponding radical) followed by the word "group", e.g. alkyl group, carboxyl group, phenyl group, carbonyl group, trimethylsilyl group, triflyl group. In many cases, the compound or compound class and corresponding functional group are discussed in the same article, generally using the compound class as the article title with the name(s) of the functional group redirecting there (although the opposite is possible).

For groups of compounds named after a simple parent compound, articles about the group should be located at the plural of the parent compound name, e.g. hydrazines, silanes, boranes, diphosphenes. Similarly, salts and esters of carboxylic acids should collectively be referred to by the plural of the carboxylate. In some cases, the group of compounds (e.g. triflates), the functional group (e.g. triflate group), and the carboxylate (e.g. triflate) will warrant a separate article; whether the article should be titled by the compound group, functional group, or carboxylate should be decided on a case by case basis depending on the group and how the article is constructed. Related terms not chosen as the title should be redirects and mentioned in the lede in bold font. In cases where the carboxylate is not generally considered as a functional group, the plural may either redirect to the article about the parent acid (or the carboxylate if there is a separate article about the carboxylate), or be a separate article or chemistry index that lists salts and esters of the parent acid (e.g. benzoates). Rare cases may have separate articles for the carboxylate, functional group, and group of compounds. Hatnotes should be used to link between these similarly named pages to facilitate navigation between these closely related topics.

Organometallic compounds

The general article about the organometallic chemistry of an element should be entitled "Organo[element] chemistry", e.g., organomercury chemistry, organopalladium chemistry, organozinc chemistry. The IUPAC definition of an "organometallic compound" includes boron, silicon, arsenic, and selenium, so this title guideline also applies to organoboron chemistry, organosilicon chemistry, etc. The related pages "Organo[element] compound" and its plural should generally be redirects. Some flexibility can be used if the article is heavily weighted toward a specific topic, such as the case for organolithium reagent, so long as the other forms redirect there. In some cases, a broad-concept article regarding the organometallic chemistry of an element may not yet exist; in these cases it is adequate to redirect these terms to an appropriate section of another article. On the other hand, depending on the metallic element, it may well be appropriate to have additional articles covering specific compounds or groups of compounds, or specific reactions.