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And now a brief Chemistry Rant.
Fluorene is the worst-named hydrocarbon ever. It is pronounced and spelled almost identically to Fluorine, the infamously reactive halogen. And yet, Fluorene contains not even a single atom of Fluorine, which could perhaps have justified the similar names. Instead it's literally just two Benzene rings glued together at a couple of places, with an extra CH2 to bridge the larger gap between rings. I can think of no possible reason for Fluorene to have the name it does other than confusing chemistry students, and I demand that this senseless ambiguity be resolved immediately by renaming Fluorene to something sensible like (2-linked)Biphenylmethane.
Even if that was a very half-assed name by IUPAC standards, it at the very least avoids the issue of being confused for an element, unlike what happens when (2-linked)Biphenylmethane is referred to by its current name of Fluorene. There is no sensible reason to persist in this horrendous excuse for a chemical misnaming, and it must be resolved immediately before more young chemists are lead astray.
This message brought to you by the Campaign To Rename Fluorene. Join today for linguistic clarity in chemistry!
Fluorene is the worst-named hydrocarbon ever. It is pronounced and spelled almost identically to Fluorine, the infamously reactive halogen. And yet, Fluorene contains not even a single atom of Fluorine, which could perhaps have justified the similar names. Instead it's literally just two Benzene rings glued together at a couple of places, with an extra CH2 to bridge the larger gap between rings. I can think of no possible reason for Fluorene to have the name it does other than confusing chemistry students, and I demand that this senseless ambiguity be resolved immediately by renaming Fluorene to something sensible like (2-linked)Biphenylmethane.
Even if that was a very half-assed name by IUPAC standards, it at the very least avoids the issue of being confused for an element, unlike what happens when (2-linked)Biphenylmethane is referred to by its current name of Fluorene. There is no sensible reason to persist in this horrendous excuse for a chemical misnaming, and it must be resolved immediately before more young chemists are lead astray.
This message brought to you by the Campaign To Rename Fluorene. Join today for linguistic clarity in chemistry!