The maximum end-to-end distance of a
linear polymer chain. For a
single-strand polymer molecule, this usually means the end-to-end distance of the chain extended to the
all-
transconformation. For chains with complex structure, only an approximate value of the contour length
may be accessible. The sum of the lengths of all skeletal bonds of a
single-strand polymer molecule is occasionally termed '
contour length'. This use of this term is discouraged.
Source:
Cite as:
IUPAC. Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 2nd ed. (the "Gold Book"). Compiled by
A. D. McNaught and A. Wilkinson. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford (1997).
XML on-line corrected version: http://goldbook.iupac.org (2006-) created by M. Nic,
J. Jirat, B. Kosata; updates compiled by A. Jenkins. ISBN 0-9678550-9-8.
https://doi.org/10.1351/goldbook.
