Ternary Acid Compounds

   The compounds which are considered to be a ternary acid have both a hydrogen first in the formula and a polyatomic ion.

        H_xX_mO_n

The format for the name of this kind of compound is two words:

    First word:  derived from the name of the polyatomic ion which includes the stem of X with either an -ous or an -ic suffix.  The prefix per- or hypo- may also be a part of this first word and depends on the ON of X,

    and is followed by the word acid.

        HIO₃

    iodic acid

    The word hydrogen and the prefix hydro- are never used in naming ternary compounds.  There is a periodic trend for the formulas of these acids.

    This Power Point Show has more examples of Ternary Acid compounds.

    Names of the anion may also be used to derive the name of the corresponding ternary acid.