Telomer
Encyclopedia
The word telomer has two distinct, yet related meanings.
- Its original meaning is in polymer sciencePolymer sciencePolymer science or macromolecular science is the subfield of materials science concerned with polymers, primarily synthetic polymers such as plastics...
, when telomerizationTelomerizationTelomerization is a radical polymerization reaction where a chain transfer limits the size of the oligomer molecule product—the telomer. Telomerization requires a telogen to react with at least one unsaturated taxogen molecule. Fluorotelomers are an example.-See also:*Perfluorooctanoic acid...
results in an extremely small polymer—one whose degree of polymerizationDegree of polymerizationThe degree of polymerization, or DP, is usually defined as the number of monomeric units in a macromolecule or polymer or oligomer molecule.For a homopolymer, there is only one type of monomeric unit andthe number-average degree of polymerization is given by...
is generally between 2 and 5.
- In this sense, telomer can be used as an abbreviation for fluorotelomerFluorotelomerFluorotelomers are fluorocarbon-based oligomers, or telomers, synthesized by telomerization. Some fluorotelomers and fluorotelomer-based compounds are a source of environmentally persistent perfluorinated carboxylic acids such as PFOA and PFNA, while others are under extended...
.
- By analogy, it is also used in geneticsGeneticsGenetics , a discipline of biology, is the science of genes, heredity, and variation in living organisms....
; the more common spelling in that case is telomereTelomereA telomere is a region of repetitive DNA sequences at the end of a chromosome, which protects the end of the chromosome from deterioration or from fusion with neighboring chromosomes. Its name is derived from the Greek nouns telos "end" and merοs "part"...
.