Oligomer

Oligomer molecule: A molecule of intermediate relative molecular mass, the structure of which essentially comprises a small plurality of units derived, actually or conceptually, from molecules of lower relative molecular mass.

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Oligomerization: The process of converting a monomer or a mixture of monomers into an oligomer.

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In chemistry, an oligomer (ⁱ/əˈlɪɡəmər/) (, "a few" + , "parts") is a molecular complex that consists of a few monomer units, in contrast to a polymer, where the number of monomers is, in principle, not limited.Dimers, trimers, and tetramers are, for instance, oligomers composed of two, three and four monomers, respectively.

In the context of biochemistry, an oligomer usually refers to a macromolecular complex formed by non-covalent bonding of a few macromolecules like proteins or nucleic acids. In this sense, a homo-oligomer would be formed by few identical molecules and by contrast, a hetero-oligomer would be made of more than one, different, macromolecules. Collagen is an example of a homo-oligomeric protein that is composed of three identical protein chains. The term multimer (/ˈmʌltᵻmər/) (, "more than one" + , "part") is used with a meaning similar to that of oligomer in the context of proteins (although technical restrictions of word sense may exist).

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