STARBURST CASCADE DENDRIMERS - FUNDAMENTAL BUILDING-BLOCKS FOR A NEW NANOSCOPIC CHEMISTRY SET

That dendrimer structures act as fundamental chemical building blocks (see Figure), forming a ''nanoscopic chemistry set'' analogous to the ''picoscopic chemistry set'' formed by atoms, is discussed in this review. Following the logic used by 19th century chemists while defining the atomic ''chemistry set'', it is shown that the ability to precisely control mass, surface valency, and surface directionality in dendrimer systems validates this approach.