Title: short chain
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - short chain
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.S05647
Status: current

Definition
A chain of low relative molecular mass.

Related Terms
- chain: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/C00946
- oligomer molecule (Note 1): https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/O04286
- relative molecular mass: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/R05271

Source
- PAC, 1996, 68, 2287. 'Glossary of basic terms in polymer science (IUPAC Recommendations 1996)' on page 2294 (https://doi.org/10.1351/pac199668122287)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/S05647/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/S05647/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/S05647/xml

Citation: Citation: 'short chain' 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.S05647
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: 2026-06-30T10:23:58+00:00