catenation

thumb|A nonane molecule, consisting of nine [[carbon atoms in a chain with 20 hydrogen atoms surrounding it]]

In chemistry, catenation is the bonding of atoms of the same element into a series, called a chain. A chain or a ring may be open if its ends are not bonded to each other (an open-chain compound), or closed if they are bonded in a ring (a cyclic compound). The words to catenate and catenation reflect the Latin root catena, "chain".