International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry

Abbreviation	IUPAC
Formation	1919; 106 years ago (1919)
Type	International non-governmental organization, standards organization
Headquarters	Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, United States
Region served	Worldwide
Membership	International Science Council
Official language	English
President	Ehud Keinan
Secretary General	Mary Garson

The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is a worldwide group of science organizations. They work together to help chemistry grow and improve. A big part of their job is creating clear rules for naming chemicals.

IUPAC is a member of the International Science Council. It is officially registered in Zürich, Switzerland. The main office, called the "IUPAC Secretariat," is in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, United States.

IUPAC started in 1919 to continue the work of earlier chemistry meetings. Its members are national chemistry groups or science academies from different countries. There are many such groups from all over the world. IUPAC is the main authority for naming chemical elements and compounds. They also set standards for how to describe them.

IUPAC is most famous for its work on naming chemicals. But they also publish information in other science areas. This includes biology and physics. For example, they have standardized names for parts of DNA and RNA. They also help improve science education. IUPAC is also known for setting the official atomic weights of elements. They do this through one of their oldest groups, the Commission on Isotopic Abundances and Atomic Weights (CIAAW).

How IUPAC Started

Friedrich August Kekulé von Stradonitz

The idea for international chemistry rules began in 1860. A group led by German scientist Friedrich August Kekulé von Stradonitz first discussed this. This meeting was the first time people tried to create a global naming system for organic compounds.

The ideas from that meeting led to the official IUPAC nomenclature of organic chemistry. IUPAC was created in 1919. It continues the important work of this early international science group. Since then, IUPAC has been in charge of updating and keeping these naming rules.

Germany was not allowed to join IUPAC at first. This was because of feelings against Germans after World War I. Germany finally joined in 1929. But Nazi Germany was removed during World War II.

After World War II, both East and West Germany rejoined IUPAC in 1973. Since then, IUPAC has focused on setting standards in science without stopping.

In 2016, IUPAC spoke out against using chlorine as a chemical weapon. They sent a letter to the director of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). They were worried about chlorine being used as a weapon in places like Syria. The letter said that using chlorine this way is wrong. It goes against the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). The CWC is an agreement that forbids using, storing, or making chemical weapons.

How IUPAC Works

IUPAC is run by several different teams called committees. Each committee has its own jobs. These committees include:

• Bureau
• CHEMRAWN Committee
• Committee on Chemistry Education
• Committee on Chemistry and Industry
• Committee on Printed and Electronic Publications
• Executive Committee
• Finance Committee
• Interdivisional Committee on Terminology, Nomenclature and Symbols
• Project Committee

Each committee has members from different countries.

Here is how the committees work together:

• All committees have a set budget they must follow.
• Any committee can start a new project.
• If a project needs more money, the committee asks the Project Committee.
• The Project Committee either gives more money or finds other ways to fund it.
• The Bureau and Executive Committee watch over what the other committees do.

Naming Chemicals

Scientists created a clear way to name organic compounds based on their structure. IUPAC made the rules for these names.

Basic Spellings

IUPAC also sets rules for how some chemical names are spelled. This helps everyone use the same spelling. For example, they suggest "aluminium" instead of "aluminum," and "sulfur" instead of "sulphur."

Organic Naming Rules

Cyclohexanol

IUPAC organic names have three main parts:

• Substituents: These are any groups attached to the main carbon chain.
• Carbon chain length: This is the longest continuous chain of carbon atoms.
• Chemical affix: This ending tells you what type of molecule it is. For example, the ending ane means a carbon chain with only single bonds, like in "hexane" (C₆H₁₄).

Let's look at cyclohexanol as an example:

• The cyclo part means it's a ring-shaped compound.
• Hex means there are six carbon atoms in the ring.
• Ane means the carbon atoms are connected by single bonds.
• Ol is the ending for an alcohol.
• So, cyclohexanol means a six-carbon ring with single bonds and an alcohol group attached.

Inorganic Naming Rules

Potassium chlorate

Basic IUPAC inorganic names have two main parts:

• Cation: This is the name for the positively charged ion.
• Anion: This is the name for the negatively charged ion.

For example, in potassium chlorate (KClO₃):

• "Potassium" is the cation name.
• "Chlorate" is the anion name.

Codes for Amino Acids and Nucleotide Bases

IUPAC also has a system for giving short codes to amino acids and nucleotide bases. They needed a way to write long sequences of amino acids more easily. This helps scientists compare these sequences to find similarities. These codes can be one letter or three letters long.

These codes make it much shorter to write down the amino acid sequences that make up proteins. Nucleotide bases are the building blocks of DNA and RNA. These codes make the genetic information of an organism much smaller and easier to read.

The codes for amino acids (24 amino acids and three special codes) are:

International Year of Chemistry

International Year of Chemistry logo

IUPAC and UNESCO worked together to lead the International Year of Chemistry in 2011. IUPAC first suggested this idea in Italy. UNESCO then agreed to it in 2008.

The main goals of the International Year of Chemistry were to help people understand and appreciate chemistry more. It also aimed to get more young people interested in chemistry. The event also celebrated how chemistry has made our lives better.

IUPAC Presidents

The Presidents of IUPAC are chosen by the IUPAC Council. This happens during their big meeting called the General Assembly. Here is a list of the IUPAC Presidents since 1919.

Term	President	Nationality
1920–1922	Charles Moureu	France
1923–1925	William Jackson Pope	United Kingdom
1926–1928	Ernst Julius Cohen	Netherlands
1928–1934	Einar Biilman	Denmark
1934–1938	N. Paravano	Italy
1938–1947	Marston Taylor Bogert	United States
1947–1951	Hugo Rudolph Kruyt	Netherlands
1951–1955	Arne Tiselius	Sweden
1955–1959	Arthur Stoll	Switzerland
1959–1963	William Albert Noyes Jr.	United States
1963–1965	Lord Todd	United Kingdom
1965–1967	Wilhelm Klemm	Germany
1967–1969	V.N. Kondratiev	Soviet Union
1969–1971	Albert Lloyd George Rees	Australia
1971–1973	Jacques Bénard	France
1973–1975	Sir Harold Thompson	United Kingdom
1975–1977	Robert W. Cairns	United States
1977–1979	Georges Smets	Belgium
1979–1981	Heinrich Zollinger	Switzerland
1981–1983	Saburo Nagakura	Japan
1983–1985	William G. Schneider	Canada
1987–1989	Valentin A. Koptyug	Soviet Union
1989–1991	Yves P. Jeannin	France
1991–1993	Allen J. Bard	United States
1993–1995	Kiril I. Zamaraev	Russia
1996–1997	Albert E. Fischli	Switzerland
1998–1999	Joshua Jortner	Israel
2000–2001	Alan Hayes	United Kingdom
2002–2003	Pieter Streicher Steyn	South Africa
2004–2005	Leiv Kristen Sydnes	Norway
2006–2007	Bryan Henry	Canada
2008–2009	Jung-Il Jin	South Korea
2010–2011	Nicole J. Moreau	France
2012–2013	Kazuyuki Tatsumi	Japan
2014–2015	Mark Cesa	United States
2016–2017	Natalia Tarasova	Russia
2018–2019	Zhou Qifeng	China
2020–2021	Christopher M.A. Brett	Portugal
2022–2023	Javier García-Martínez	Spain
2024-2025	Ehud Keinan	Israel

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