Dimerization

s are often found in the vapour phase. Anhydrous carboxylic acids form dimers by hydrogen bonding of the acidic hydrogen and the carbonyl oxygen. For example, acetic acid forms a dimer in the gas phase, where the monomer units are held together by hydrogen bonds. Many OH-containing molecules form dimers, e.g. the water dimer. Dimers that form based on weak electrostatic interaction and/or van der Waals interactions have a short lifetime, but can be stabilized through special laboratory setups such as matrix-isolation. A prominent example is the carbon dioxide dimer, which is likely to be relevant to Venus atmosphere. Excimers and exciplexes are excited structures with a short lifetime. For example, noble gases do not form stable dimers, but they do form the excimers Ar2*, Kr2* and Xe2* under high pressure and electrical stimulation. == Covalent dimers ==

gives dicyclopentadiene, although this might not be readily apparent on initial inspection. This dimerization is reversible. Molecular dimers are often formed by the reaction of two identical compounds e.g.: . In this example, monomer "A" is said to dimerize to give the dimer "". Dicyclopentadiene is an asymmetrical dimer of two cyclopentadiene molecules that have reacted in a Diels-Alder reaction to give the product. Upon heating, it "cracks" (undergoes a retro-Diels-Alder reaction) to give identical monomers: :C10H12 -> 2 C5H6 Many nonmetallic elements occur as dimers: hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, and the halogens fluorine, chlorine, bromine and iodine. Some metals form a proportion of dimers in their vapour phase: dilithium (), disodium (), dipotassium (), dirubidium () and dicaesium (). Such elemental dimers are homonuclear diatomic molecules. ==Polymer chemistry==

In the context of polymers, "dimer" also refers to the degree of polymerization 2, regardless of the stoichiometry or condensation reactions. One case where this is applicable is with disaccharides. For example, cellobiose is a dimer of glucose, even though the formation reaction produces water: : 2 C6H12O6 -> C12H22O11 + H2O Here, the resulting dimer has a stoichiometry different from the initial pair of monomers. Disaccharides need not be composed of the same monosaccharides to be considered dimers. An example is sucrose, a dimer of fructose and glucose, which follows the same reaction equation as presented above. Amino acids can also form dimers, which are called dipeptides. An example is glycylglycine, consisting of two glycine molecules joined by a peptide bond. Other examples include aspartame and carnosine. == Inorganic and organometallic dimers ==

Many molecules and ions are described as dimers, even when the monomer is elusive. Boranes Diborane (B2H6) is an dimer of borane, which is elusive and rarely observed. Almost all compounds of the type R2BH exist as dimers. Organoaluminium compounds Trialkylaluminium compounds can exist as either monomers or dimers, depending on the steric bulk of the groups attached. For example, trimethylaluminium exists as a dimer, but trimesitylaluminium adopts a monomeric structure. Organochromium compounds Cyclopentadienylchromium tricarbonyl dimer exists in measureable equilibrium quantities with the monometallic radical . == Biochemical dimers ==

Pyrimidine dimers Pyrimidine dimers (also known as thymine dimers) are formed by a photochemical reaction from pyrimidine DNA bases when exposed to ultraviolet light. For example, tubulin is formed by the dimerization of α-tubulin and β-tubulin and this dimer can then polymerize further to make microtubules. For symmetric proteins, the larger protein complex can be broken down into smaller identical protein subunits, which then dimerize to decrease the genetic code required to make the functional protein. GPCR dimers include both homodimers and heterodimers formed from related members of the GPCR family. While not all, some GPCRs require dimerization to function, such as GABAB-receptor, emphasizing the importance of dimers in biological systems. Receptor tyrosine kinase Much like for G protein-coupled receptors, dimerization is essential for receptor tyrosine kinases (RTK) to perform their function in signal transduction, affecting many different cellular processes. RTKs typically exist as monomers, but undergo a conformational change upon ligand binding, allowing them to dimerize with nearby RTKs. The dimerization activates the cytoplasmic kinase domains that are responsible for further signal transduction. == See also ==