Question

Give names of the following compound: $KClO$

Answer 1

Hint: To answer this question, you must recall the rules for IUPAC nomenclature of inorganic chemical compounds which is given by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry. The rules are given in such a way that each element, compound or ion has a unique name. The name of a compound is determined by its ions.

Complete answer:
The cation in the given compound is ${K^ + }$ and is written in the name of the compound as potassium and is to be followed by the name of the anion. The anion in the given compound is $Cl{O^ - }$ and is named as hypochlorite.

So, the name of $KClO$ is potassium hypochlorite.

Note:
The rules for the nomenclature of inorganic compounds are:
Anions consisting of single atoms are named by adding –ide suffix and the end of the name root. For example, oxygen anion is named as oxide.
In the case of naming of cations, there are no special rules. The name of the cation in the compound is written as it is followed by the name of the anion. For example, $NaCl$ is named as sodium chloride where sodium ion is the cation and the anion is a chloride ion.
The cations carrying more than one value of positive charge are additionally labelled by writing their oxidation state in a bracket. Also, we may add a suffix –ous or –ic to the word root. For example, single charged copper ion is represented as copper (I) or cuprous ion and doubly charged copper ion is named as copper (II) or cupric ion.
The polyatomic anions containing oxygen atoms (oxyanions) are named with a suffix -ite or -ate, depending on the number of oxygen atoms present. If four different oxyanions are possible, then we add prefixes hypo- and per-. For example, $Cl{O^ - }$ is named as hypochlorite and $ClO_4^ - $ is named as perchlorate.