The chain group $C(G)$ of a locally compact group $G$ has one generator $g_{rho}$ for each irreducible unitary $G$-representation $rho$, a relation $g_{rho}=g_{rho}g_{rho}$ whenever $rho$ is weakly contained in $rhootimes rho$, and $g_{rho^*}=g_{rho}^{-1}$ for the representation $rho^*$ contragredient to $rho$. $G$ satisfies chain-center duality if assigning to each $g_{rho}$ the central character of $rho$ is an isomorphism of $C(G)$ onto the dual $widehat{Z(G)}$ of the center of $G$. We prove that $G$ satisfies chain-center duality if it is (a) a compact-by-abelian extension, (b) connected nilpotent, (c) countable discrete icc or (d) connected semisimple; this generalizes M. M{u}gers result compact groups satisfy chain-center duality.