Dimer (chemistry) in the context of "Heptacene"

London dispersion forces (LDF, also known as dispersion forces, London forces, instantaneous dipole–induced dipole forces, fluctuating induced dipole bonds or loosely as van der Waals forces) are a type of intermolecular force acting between atoms and molecules that are normally electrically symmetric; that is, the electrons are symmetrically distributed with respect to the nucleus. They are part of the van der Waals forces. The LDF is named after the German physicist Fritz London. They are the weakest of the intermolecular forces.

In chemistry, a radical, also known as a free radical, is an atom, molecule, or ion that has at least one unpaired valence electron.With some exceptions, these unpaired electrons make radicals highly chemically reactive. Many radicals spontaneously dimerize. Most organic radicals have short lifetimes.

A notable example of a radical is the hydroxyl radical (HO·), a molecule that has one unpaired electron on the oxygen atom. Two other examples are triplet oxygen and triplet carbene (꞉CH
₂) which have two unpaired electrons.

In structural biology, a protomer is the structural unit of an oligomeric protein. It is the smallest unit composed of at least one protein chain. The protomers associate to form a larger oligomer of two or more copies of this unit. Protomers usually arrange in cyclic symmetry to form closed point group symmetries.

The term was introduced by Chetverin to make nomenclature in the Na/K-ATPase enzyme unambiguous. This enzyme is composed of two subunits: a large, catalytic α subunit, and a smaller glycoprotein β subunit (plus a proteolipid, called γ-subunit). At the time it was unclear how many of each work together. In addition, when people spoke of a dimer, it was unclear whether they were referring to αβ or to (αβ)₂. Chetverin suggested to call αβ a protomer and (αβ)₂ a diprotomer. Thus, in the work by Chetverin the term protomer was only applied to a hetero-oligomer and subsequently used mainly in the context of hetero-oligomers. Following this usage, a protomer consists of a least two different proteins chains. In current literature of structural biology, the term is commonly also applied to the smallest unit of homo-oligomers, avoiding the term "monomer".

Carbamic acid, which might also be called aminoformic acid or aminocarboxylic acid, is the chemical compound with the formula H₂NCOOH. It can be obtained by the reaction of ammonia NH₃ and carbon dioxide CO₂ at very low temperatures, which also yields ammonium carbamate [NH₄][NH₂CO₂]. The compound is stable only up to about 250 K (−23 °C); at higher temperatures it decomposes into those two gases. The solid apparently consists of dimers, with the two molecules connected by hydrogen bonds between the two carboxyl groups –COOH.

Carbamic acid could be seen as both an amine and carboxylic acid, and therefore an amino acid; however, the attachment of the carboxyl group –COOH directly to the nitrogen atom (without any intermediate carbon chain) makes it behave very differently from the amino acids with intermediate carbon chain. (Glycine NH₂CH₂COOH is generally considered to be the simplest amino acid.) The hydroxyl group –OH attached to the carbon also excludes it from the amide class.

Diethylene glycol (DEG) is an organic compound with the formula (HOCH₂CH₂)₂O. It is a colorless, practically odorless, and hygroscopic liquid with a sweetish taste. It is a four carbon dimer of ethylene glycol. It is miscible in water, alcohol, ether, acetone, and ethylene glycol. DEG is a widely used solvent. It can be a normal ingredient in various consumer products, and it can be a contaminant. DEG has also been misused to sweeten wine and beer, and to viscosify oral and topical pharmaceutical products. Its use has resulted in many epidemics of poisoning since the early 20th century.

Isomaltose is a disaccharide similar to maltose, but with a α-(1-6)-linkage instead of the α-(1-4)-linkage. Both of the sugars are dimers of glucose, which is a pyranose sugar. Isomaltose is a reducing sugar. Isomaltose is produced when high maltose syrup is treated with the enzyme transglucosidase (TG) and is one of the major components in the mixture isomaltooligosaccharide.

It is a product of the caramelization of glucose.

A krypton-fluoride laser (KrF laser) is a particular type of excimer laser, which is sometimes (more correctly) called an exciplex laser. With its 248 nanometer wavelength, it is a deep ultraviolet laser which is commonly used in the production of semiconductor integrated circuits, industrial micromachining, and scientific research. The term excimer is short for "excited dimer", while exciplex is short for "excited complex". An excimer laser typically contains a mixture of a noble gas, such as argon, krypton, or xenon, and a halogen gas such as fluorine or chlorine. Under suitably intense conditions of electromagnetic stimulation and pressure, the mixture emits a beam of coherent stimulated radiation as laser light in the ultraviolet range.

KrF and ArF excimer lasers are widely incorporated into high-resolution photolithography machines, one of the critical tools required for microelectronic chip manufacturing in nanometer dimensions. Excimer laser lithography has enabled transistor feature sizes to shrink from 800 nanometers in 1990 to 10 nanometers in 2016.

Steric effects arise from the spatial arrangement of atoms. When atoms come close together there is generally a rise in the energy of the molecule. Steric effects are nonbonding interactions that influence the shape (conformation) and reactivity of ions and molecules. Steric effects complement electronic effects, which dictate the shape and reactivity of molecules. Steric repulsive forces between overlapping electron clouds result in structured groupings of molecules stabilized by the way that opposites attract and like charges repel.

In polymer chemistry, step-growth polymerization refers to a type of polymerization mechanism in which bi-functional or multifunctional monomers react to form first dimers, then trimers, longer oligomers and eventually long chain polymers. Many naturally occurring and some synthetic polymers are produced by step-growth polymerization, e.g. polyesters, polyamides, polyurethanes, etc. Due to the nature of the polymerization mechanism, a high extent of reaction is required to achieve high molecular weight. The easiest way to visualize the mechanism of a step-growth polymerization is a group of people reaching out to hold their hands to form a human chain—each person has two hands (= reactive sites). There also is the possibility to have more than two reactive sites on a monomer: In this case branched polymers production take place.

IUPAC has deprecated the term step-growth polymerization, and recommends use of the terms polyaddition (when the propagation steps are addition reactions and molecules are not evolved during these steps) and polycondensation (when the propagation steps are condensation reactions and molecules are evolved during these steps).

P680, or photosystem II primary donor, is the reaction-center chlorophyll a molecular dimer associated with photosystem II in plants, algae, and cyanobacteria, and central to oxygenic photosynthesis.