{"term":{"id":"04363","title":"oxidation number","longtitle":"IUPAC Gold Book - oxidation number","doi":"10.1351\/goldbook.O04363","code":"O04363","status":"current","synonym":"<em>synonym<\/em>: Stock number","definitions":[{"id":1,"text":"In English is largely synonymous with oxidation state, and may be preferred when the value represents a mere parameter or number rather than being related to chemical systematics or a state of the atom in a compound. Etymologically, it stems from the no-longer-used term 'Stock number' (oxidation number of a central atom; the charge it would bear if all the ligands were removed along with the electron pairs that were shared with the central atom) and the likewise obsolete term Ewens–Bassett number (ion charge).","links":[{"term":"Ewens–Bassett number","url":"https:\/\/goldbook.iupac.org\/\/terms\/view\/E02231"},{"term":"central atom","url":"https:\/\/goldbook.iupac.org\/\/terms\/view\/C00930"},{"term":"oxidation state","url":"https:\/\/goldbook.iupac.org\/\/terms\/view\/O04365"}],"sources":["PAC, 2014, 86, 1017. 'Toward a Comprehensive Definition of Oxidation State' on page 1020-1021 (https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1515\/pac-2013-0505)","PAC, 2016, 88, 831. 'Comprehensive definition of oxidation state' on page 832 (https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1515\/pac-2015-1204)"]}],"altoutputs":{"html":"https:\/\/goldbook.iupac.org\/terms\/view\/O04363\/html","xml":"https:\/\/goldbook.iupac.org\/terms\/view\/O04363\/xml","plain":"https:\/\/goldbook.iupac.org\/terms\/view\/O04363\/plain"},"citation":"Citation: 'oxidation number' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351\/goldbook.O04363","license":"The IUPAC Gold Book is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike CC BY-SA 4.0 International (https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/4.0\/) for individual terms.","collection":"If you are interested in licensing the Gold Book for commercial use, please contact the IUPAC Executive Director at executivedirector@iupac.org .","disclaimer":"The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is continuously reviewing and, where needed, updating terms in the Compendium of Chemical Terminology (the IUPAC Gold Book). Users of these terms are encouraged to include the version of a term with its use and to check regularly for updates to term definitions that you are using.","accessed":"2026-05-18T09:24:24+00:00"}}