Should chemical compounds and elements be capitalized?

In the case of a name of a person, the first letter is written in capital letters.


* Should the first letter of name of a chemical compound or element be written in capital letters?




The names of chemical compounds and elements should be capitalized if they appear at the beginning of a sentence or in a title - that is, they are treated just like any other common noun.


For example, a title:



> 
> Why I Don't Like Zinc
> 
> 
> 


or a sentence:



> 
> Boron is my favorite element.
> 
> 
> 


Within a sentence:



> 
> We used boron and zinc in the experiment.
> 
> 
> Vinegar contains acetic acid.
> 
> 
> 


The symbols for chemical elements are always capitalized, no matter what:



> 
> We combined $\ce{As}$ and $\ce{W}$ to make a new alloy.
> 
> 
> 


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One addition to Todd's correct answer is that of trade names. The canonical example of Teflon being capitalized, the name being property of DuPont. <https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polytetrafluoroethylene>


Although Teflon is not the chemical name, the distinction is added to avoid possible confusion.


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