Functional dendrimers

Ln this review new results in the field of dendrimers and hyper-branched molecules are collected. After this relatively new and appealing research topic had entered the field of chemistry, as well as biology, physics, and medicine, fascinating results and the possibilities arising from them are growing just like the functionalities of a dendrimer from generation to generation. Owing to the multi-disciplinarity of dendrimer chemistry it seems to be important here to focus on topical research, functions of dendrimers, and their possible applications. In the following, specific functionalization possibilities and their effects are to be discussed first. Then the main attention is focussed on photoactive, chiral, and supramolecular dendrimers with regard to future developments. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.