Help Wanted: The Chemical Names Project

I have a bit of down time whilst waiting for Big New Job to start. After writing about the confusing naming for the aromatic compound nootkatone over at SciAm, I became curious: How do we learn chemical names? Is there some sort of definitive reference point for how to pronounce tricky compounds?

To-MAY-to, To-MAH-to

I propose a fun little experiment: Send me names of strange-looking chemicals, and I'll record myself attempting to pronounce them. Where possible, I'll consult NIST, the Merck Index, the dictionary, and the IPA system to try and provide the best possible answer.*

Ground Rules: The name should be no more than a few syllables long; I'm not looking to pronounce the full IUPAC name for maitotoxin! Regional differences (aluminum / aluminium) won't be accepted. Where possible, try to give me some sort of feel for the origin or etymology of the compound, so I can make a quality recording.

Here's my (short) list of contenders: nootkatone, phenolphthalein, azide, linalool, geissoschizine

Don't Delay! Submit your unpronounceable compounds in the comments today!

*For those who've never heard me speak, I pride myself on clear diction and a relatively flat American accent

In Praise of Portmanteaux

Listening to the news on the drive home, some interesting words crossed my ears: Fracking. Locavore. Flexitarian. 


It's clear that we generate neologisms nowadays simply by stitching old words together.

I'm tired of writing this sinfo on microsyn...time for skitter?

The trend has a name: portmanteau words. Attributed to wordsmith Lewis Carroll in the late 19^th Century, the practice has evolved with the internet age to describe complex ideas in tiny verbal bundles. For instance, a locavore is a "local omnivore," or someone who eats foods located sourced from within a certain radius of his home. 


Not that we chemists should be surprised. After all, we're responsible for many of these words, and we use them every day. The aldol reaction takes an aldehyde and an enol to forge new carbon-carbon bonds. Using small organic molecules for catalysis? Organocatalysis. Why talk about reduction and oxidation cycles, when you could just say redox?


So, in an effort to increase synthetic chemists' efficiency, I'd like to propose several new portmanteau words:


sinfo: Supplementary Information
chactalysis: C-H Activation Catalysis
fuells: Fuel cells
meconomy: The "Methanol Economy"
Wots: Western blots
flolumn: Flash-column chromatography
microsyn: Microwave-assisted synthesis
skitter: Scientific Twitter  (Does that make Just Like Cooking a 'sklog?')


We could take this trend to a logical extreme, and repurpose words we already have. For instance, what do you call going back through your lab notebooks for an old prep?      
Retro-synthesis!


Commenters - Feel free to chime in....what have I missed?