nomenclature - 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?

Answer

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.