This question is addressed by Professors Klaus Mullen and Gerhard Wegner, who point out the role of oligomers in elucidating polymer structure and mechanisms of polymer formation and as building blocks in polymer synthesis. The advantages of investigating structure-property relationships using conjugated oligomers, which, in contrast to polymers, are structurally well-defined and easily purified, is also discussed, as is how their chain length-dependent physical properties can be used in an extrapolation to infinite chain length.