from the parent substance or a chemical substance related structurally to the parent substance and theoretically derivable from the parent substance the derivatization compound may also be produced from another compound of similar structure in one or more steps the term u201c molecule u201d generally refers to a macromolecule or polymer as described herein however arrays comprising single molecules as opposed to macromolecules or polymers are also within the scope of the embodiments of the invention a u201c macromolecule u201d or u201c polymer u201d comprises two or more monomers covalently joined the monomers may be joined one at a time or in strings of multiple monomers ordinarily known as u201c oligomers u201d thus for example one monomer and a string of five monomers may be joined to form a macromolecule or polymer of six monomers similarly a string of fifty monomers may be joined with a string of hundred monomers to form a macromolecule or polymer of one hundred and fifty monomers the term polymer as used herein includes for example both linear and cyclic polymers of nucleic acids polynucleotides polynucleotides polysaccharides oligosaccharides proteins polypeptides peptides phospholipids and peptide nucleic acids pnas the peptides include those peptides having either u03b1 u03b2 or u03c9 amino acids in addition polymers include heteropolymers in which a known drug is covalently bound.