What are good naming conventions for chemical properties? [closed]








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I've noticed (as I'm not a chemist) that some terminology in chemistry seems very confusing to me compared to how I'm used to view symbols and relations in mathematics.


For example, today I was reading about [α acids](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_acid). I have no idea why has someone chosen to name them α acids. But I presume that α is merely "first" in some other collection of acids. However, since acids are not particular to beers, then this seems like an overly general name to give for some beer-specific acidic properties.


So what are good naming conventions in chemistry and what do you think of the α acids for example as a name?




There are naming conventions in chemistry. Specifically the IUPAC (International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry) has defined intricate rules of how to systematically name molecules -- see [the Wikipedia article on naming organic compounds](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IUPAC_nomenclature_of_organic_chemistry). Often, these names can become very long, though, so chemists often use shorter "[trivial names](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trivial_name)". Also, if you want to sum up compound classes, you have to find a way of describing what is common to the class.


I am not sure where the term alpha acids comes from, but I guess the following: It is due to the fact that these acids do not have the normal [carboxylic acid](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carboxylic_acid) group, where the double bonded O and the OH would be attached to the same carbon. Instead, they have an OH-group attached to a carbon that is standing "alpha" to the CO-group. See Wikipedia for an explanation of the term [alpha carbon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_and_beta_carbon).


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