What is "prepolymer"

n. (context organic chemistry English) Any oligomer or other macromolecule that is capable of further polymerization.

The term pre-polymer refers to a monomer or system of monomers that have been reacted to an intermediate molecular mass state. This material is capable of further polymerization by reactive groups to a fully cured high molecular weight state. As such, mixtures of reactive polymers with un-reacted monomers may also be referred to as pre-polymers. The term “pre-polymer” and “polymer precursor” may be interchanged.