This MedLibrary.org supplementary page on IUPAC is provided directly from the open source Wikipedia as a service to our readers. Please see the note below on authorship of this content, as well as the Wikipedia usage guidelines. To search for other content from our encyclopedia supplement, please use the form below:
Related Sponsors
 |
This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can. (June 2008) |
The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) (IPA: /aɪjuːpæk/ or ay-yoo-pec) is an international non-governmental organization established in 1919 devoted to the advancement of chemistry. It has as its members national chemistry societies. It is most well known as the recognized authority in developing standards for the naming of the chemical elements and their compounds, through its Interdivisional Committee on Nomenclature and Symbols (IUPAC nomenclature). It is a member of the International Council for Science (ICSU).
In addition to nomenclature guidelines, the IUPAC sets standards for international spelling in the event of a dispute; for example, it ruled that international aluminium is preferable to the American aluminum and American sulfur is preferable to the British sulphur.
Many IUPAC publications are available over the Internet. For example, Quantities, Units and Symbols in Physical Chemistry (the "Green Book") can be downloaded in its entirety, while Compendium of Chemical Terminology is fully searchable online.
An important IUPAC supplement ("Recommendations for nomenclature and tables in biochemical thermodynamics, 1994") is available at http://www.chem.qmul.ac.uk/iubmb/thermod/.
As the introduction to the proposed 3rd edition points out, the failure to use standardized units can result in disastrous consequences, illustrated by the loss of NASA's Mars Climate Orbiter.
See also
- Element naming controversy
- International Chemical Identifier (InChI)
- Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements (IRMM)
- National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
- International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry nomenclature
- European Association for Chemical and Molecular Sciences
External links
 |
This article about an international organization is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
 |
This chemistry article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 4 September 2008, at 17:53.
Wikipedia Authorship and Review
Wikipedia content provided here is not reviewed directly by MedLibrary.org. Wikipedia content is authored by an open community of volunteers and is not produced by or in any way affiliated with MedLibrary.org.
Wikipedia Usage Guidelines
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article on "IUPAC".
The URL for this specific entry is:
All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details). Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.