Monomer

A monomer is the singular unit that can join with other monomers to create complex polymers. An example of a monomer is glucose which can then combined to form glycogen. Another example may be that the beta-glucose monomer is used to form the polymers cellulose. Besides that, amino acids is a monomer which are the basic building block for protein.

The word monomer is derived from the greek "mono" meaning one and "meros" meaning part. A monomer is an atom or molecule which acts as a building block which may react chemically with other molecules of the same type (other monomers) in order to form longer chain molecules (polymers).

A common natural example of a monomer is glucose which forms glycosidic bonds. The resulting polymers are cellulose or starch.

It should be noted that polymers of smaller molecular weights can be referred to as dimers (2 sub-units), trimers (3 sub-units) etc.