How do you name #"HBr"# and #"HBrO"_3#?

1 Answer
Truong-Son N.
Oct 20, 2016

A good way to figure this out is that "hydro" implies that the anion does not have an oxygen atom, and that you can analogize with the chlorine-based acids that you were probably given.

For example:

#"HCl"#: hydrochloric acid
#"HClO"#: hypochlorous acid
#"HClO"_2#: chlorous acid
#"HClO"_3#: chloric acid
#"HClO"_4#: perchloric acid

None of the acids above that contain oxoanions (such as #"ClO"_3^(-)#, or #"ClO"_4^(-)#) have "hydro" in their name.

Furthermore, the halogens all form acids with similar names because they are all in the same group/family. So, they have analogous acid naming schemes:

#"HBr"#: hydrobromic acid
#"HCl"#: hydrochloric acid
#"HI"#: hydroiodic acid

From this, you should be able to figure out that you have:

#"HBr"#: hydrobromic acid
#"HBrO"_3#: bromic acid

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