International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry

Last revised by Daniel J Bell on 19 Dec 2020

The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is the world authority on the nomenclature of chemical elements and compounds. The nomenclature is designed to provide an unambiguous representation of a molecule. However, the systematic names are often not used in scientific or clinical communication if they are too lengthy or unfamiliar compared to a more common name.

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