Organic nomenclature in Chinese

The Chinese Chemical Society (CCS; Chinese: 中国化学会) lays out a set of rules based on those given by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) for the purpose of systematic organic nomenclature in Chinese. A standard set of characters, invented during the 20th century, is used for this purpose.

Derivation of Chinese Characters

The majority of the Chinese characters used for this purpose are phonosemantic compounds, with part of the character giving a general semantic category and the other part providing a pronunciation, usually based on the international (European) pronunciation. There are four common radicals (the part of the character that gives the semantic category) for these characters:

• 火 (huǒ, fire) e.g.: 烷 (wán, alkane), common for hydrocarbons
• 酉 (yǒu, ritual wine vessel) e.g.: 酮 (tóng, ketone), common for oxygenated functionalities
• 艸 (cǎo, grass) e.g. 苯 (běn, benzene, phenyl), common for aromatic compounds and terpenes
• 肉 (ròu, meat, flesh) e.g. 腙 (zōng, hydrazone), common for nitrogen-containing functionalities

Additionally, the mouth radical (口, kǒu) is affixed to characters that are used for their sound only. This occurs often in the transliteration of the names of heterocyclic compounds, (e.g., 吡啶, "bǐdìng", pyridine). These characters are also used for the transliteration of non-chemical terms from foreign languages.

Table

Below is a table, in pinyin order, of the Chinese names of major organic compounds, radicals, and functional groups. Characters given are in Simplified Chinese. Since the characters are modern creations, the Traditional Chinese characters are analogous (with Traditional components in place of Simplified components). This list is not exhaustive, although many of the other characters used for this purpose can only be found in specialist dictionaries.

Chinese names of organic compounds, radicals, and functional groups

Character	Phonetic	Pronunciation	Origin/Notes
胺 amine	安 ān 'peace'	àn	From ammonia, 氨, ān, itself based on the European pronunciation (铵, ǎn 'ammonia', with the metal radical is used for ammonium salts)
薁 azulene	奥 ào 'mysterious'	ào	European pronunciation (There is an unrelated archaic homographic character pronounced yù, meaning 'wild grapes')
苯 benzene or phenyl	本 běn 'this','root'	běn	European pronunciation
吡啶 pyridine	比 bǐ 'contrast' and 定 dìng 'stability'	bǐdìng	Transliteration
吡咯 pyrrole	比 bǐ 'contrast' and 各 gè 'each'	bǐluò	Transliteration
苄 benzyl	卞 biàn 'hurried'	biàn	European pronunciation
卟吩 porphin	卜 bǔ foretell' and 分 fēn 'divide'	bǔfēn	Transliteration (Formerly known as 㗊, jí, which depicts the porphin ring system pictographically)
醇 alcohol	享 xiǎng 'enjoy'	chún	Not newly coined, original meaning 'rich wine'
苊 acenaphthene	厄 è 'hardship'	è	European pronunciation
蒽 anthracene	恩 ēn 'favor'	ēn	European pronunciation
酚 (also 苯酚) phenol	分 fēn 'divide'	fēn (běnfēn)	European pronunciation
砜 sulfone	风 fēng 'the wind'	fēng	European pronunciation (亚砜, yàfēng [lit. minor sulfone], is used for sulfoxide)
呋喃 furan	夫 fū 'husband' and 南 nán 'south'	fúnán	Transliteration
酐 (organic or inorganic) anhydride	干 gān 'dry', 'work'	gān	From (simplified) 干, gān, 'dry'
苷 glycoside	甘 gān 'sweet'	gān	From 甘, gān, 'sweet' (Formerly known as 甙, dài, from 代, dài, 'substitute')
胍 guanidine	瓜 guā 'melon'	guā	European pronunciation
胲 hydroxylamine	亥 hài '9-11 pm'	hǎi	European pronunciation
磺 sulfonyl	黄 huáng 'yellow'	huáng	From 硫磺, liúhuáng, 'sulfur' (e.g., 磺胺, huángàn is sulfonamide)
腈 nitrile	青 qīng 'blue','green'	jīng	From cyanogen, 氰, qíng, itself derived from 青, qīng, blue/green, cf. Prussian blue
肼 hydrazine	井 jǐng. 'a well'	jǐng	European pronunciation
胩 isonitrile	卡 kǎ 'stop','check'	kǎ	From older nomenclature carbylamine (Also known as 异腈, yìjīng [lit. different nitrile])
蒈 carane	皆 jiē 'all'	kǎi	European pronunciation
莰 camphane	坎 kǎn 'threshold'	kǎn	European pronunciation
喹啉 quinoline	奎 kuí 'stride' and 林 lín 'forest'	kuílín	Transliteration
醌 quinone	昆 kūn 'elder brother'	kūn	European pronunciation
膦 phosphine	粦 lín	lìn	From 磷, lín, itself from 粦 lín, 'will-o'-the-wisp' (Phosphonium is 鏻, lǐn, in analogy to ammonium)
醚 ether	迷 mí 'bewilder'	mí	From 迷, mí, 'confusion', from anesthetic properties of diethyl ether
脒 amidine	米 mǐ 'rice'	mǐ	European pronunciation
咪唑 imidazole	米 mǐ 'rice' and 坐 zuò 'sit'	mǐzuò	Transliteration
嘧啶 pyrimidine	密 mì 'dense' and 定 dìng 'stability'	mìdìng	Transliteration
萘 naphthalene	奈 nài 'Chennai'	nài	European pronunciation
脲 urea	尿 niào 'urine'	niào	From 尿, niào, 'urine'
苧 limonene	宁 níng 'peaceful'	níng	From 柠檬 níngméng, 'lemon'
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