Summary:
- Molecular compounds are inorganic compounds that take the form of discrete molecules.
- These compounds are very different from ionic compounds like sodium chloride (NaCl) Ionic compounds are formed when metal atoms lose one or more of their electrons to nonmetal atoms.
- A system to distinguish between compounds such as these is necessary.Prefixes are used in the names of binary molecular compounds to identify the number of atoms of each element.
- The order of nonmetals in binary compound formulas is C, P, N, S, H, Cl, O, F, Br, F.