Lab and analysis
IUPAC name
Definition
The systematic name of a chemical built by the nomenclature rules of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry.
IUPAC names describe the structure, for example propan-2-one for acetone or 2-acetyloxybenzoic acid for aspirin. They are precise but often long, so trade uses common names, trade names and CAS numbers more often.
When a supplier's name and your name for a product differ, compare CAS numbers or structures rather than names.
Related terms
- CAS registry number (CAS RN)A unique numeric identifier assigned by the Chemical Abstracts Service to a chemical substance, such as 7732-18-5 for water.
- InChIKeyA fixed length 27 character hashed form of the InChI, used to search and link chemical records, for example LFQSCWFLJHTTHZ-UHFFFAOYSA-N for ethanol.
- InChIThe IUPAC International Chemical Identifier, an open text string that describes a chemical structure in layers.
- SMILESA line notation that writes a chemical structure as a short text string, such as CCO for ethanol.