Dendrimers, Arborols, and Cascade Molecules: Breakthrough into Generations of New Materials

Abstract

Compounds with extremely branched molecular structures (for example 1) that are formed in iterative syntheses are penetrating many disciplines of chemistry. Compound 1 has 36 carboxyl groups on its periphery and can be considered a unimolecular micelle. Recently dendrimers have found their way into coordination chemistry through a compound which contains up to 22 metal centers per molecule (see also Balzani et al. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. 1992, 31, 1493).