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Not everything can nor does have a "name". First, there are kinds of molecules which we have not yet imagined yet, for which we do not yet have an IUPAC naming
by murphyslab 5y ago
Not everything can nor does have a "name". First, there are kinds of molecules which we have not yet imagined yet, for which we do not yet have an IUPAC naming system. One could be devised, however that's an ongoing task.
Think of the endohedral fullerenes — metal atoms stuck inside of buckyball cages — those have really only been directly in chemists' sights for 30 or so years. [0]
Another pair of extrema are 2D materials and network solids, which are effectively massive molecules. Again, we don't have a great naming system for them, even if we could properly catalogue all of the bonds (and enclosed species). And more practically, one is probably better off with a set of atomic coordinates to describe them.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endohedral_fullerene https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endohedral_fullerene
- frisco 5y agoI mean, sure.