Title: kinetic-chain length
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - kinetic-chain length
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.15409
Status: current

Definition
In a chain polymerization, the rate of chain propagation divided by the sum of the rates of all of the chain-termination processes.

Notes
1) Chain-termination processes include termination by combination or disproportionation but do not include chain transfer.
2) In the absence of chain transfer, the kinetic-chain length will be equal to the degree of polymerization.

Source
- PAC, 2008, 80, 2163. 'Glossary of terms related to kinetics, thermodynamics, and mechanisms of polymerization (IUPAC Recommendations 2008)' on page 2178 (https://doi.org/10.1351/pac200880102163)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/15409/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/15409/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/15409/xml

Citation: Citation: 'kinetic-chain length' 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.15409
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Accessed: 2026-04-18T06:47:45+00:00