International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry

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The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC, pronounced /aɪjuːpæk/) is a non-governmental organization established in 1919 as the successor of the International Congress of Applied Chemistry for the advancement of chemistry. Its members are national chemistry societies. It is 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).

Many IUPAC publications are available on the Internet. For example, Quantities, Units and Symbols in Physical Chemistry (the "Green Book") can be downloaded, while Compendium of Chemical Terminology (the "Gold Book") is 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.

[edit] See also

• Element naming controversy
• International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (IUBMB)
• 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

[edit] External links

• Official website