Dendrimers

Recent developments in the one-step synthesis of structurally controlled hyperbranched polymers (HBPs) in terms of molecular weight, dispersity, number of branching points, branching density, and number of chain-end groups by radical polymerization are summarized. Copolymerization of conventional vinyl monomers and a vinyl telluride, which induces the branching structure, under organotellurium-mediated radical polymerization (TERP) affords HBPs with dendrimer and dendron structures. The same synthetic strategy under atom transfer radical polymerization is also discussed.

Structure and morphology are critical to the performance of permeable and selective polyamide membranes in water purification. Here, the authors report a two layer asymmetric polyamide nanofilm in which a spherical polyamide dendrimer porous lower and a polyamide dense upper layer form hierarchical nanovoids.

Synthetic globular polymers of several million molecular weight are expected to exhibit unique properties but are difficult to synthesize. Here the authors synthesize such dendritic polymers that show unique lubrication properties and act as molecular ball bearings due to their 3D compact structure, size, solubility, hydration and low intrinsic viscosities.

Digital polymers with precisely ordered units for next-generation data storage media are continually investigated for higher storage capacity. Here the authors show the synthesis of information-coded 2D digital dendrimers and the generated data matrix barcode can be read by a common hand-held device.

Dendrimers, a type of dendritic molecule, have a well-defined structure with a homogeneous molecular weight and precise multiple terminal groups. Although the immobilized dendrimer with closely packed terminals was inactive to various proteins due to huge steric hindrance, the immobilized dendrimer with loosely packed terminals and many signature ligands, such as saccharides, was highly active to specific proteins with multivalent interactions at the surface. Additionally, the loosely packed glycodendrimer controlled the biological functionality of proteins by strictly regulated multivalent interactions.