Sequences in dendrons and dendrimers

Sequential incorporation of a variety of functional groups forms the basis for specificity in biomacromolecules. Introduction of such diversity and sequencing ability in artificial macromolecules is fundamentally interesting. In this paper, three different synthetic approaches have been used to build dendrons and dendrimers in which all the monomer units are different from each other. The synthetic strategies described in this paper involve the use of (i) an ABB(p) monomer, (ii) an ABB' monomer, and (iii) an ABB(m) monomer. The complementarity and the versatility of these synthetic approaches should render them useful for a variety of applications.