Branched polymers and

Burchard, W. Static and Dynamic Light Scattering from Branched Polymers and Biopolymers. Vol. 48, pp. 1—24. 

As early as 1952, Flory [5, 6] pointed out that the polycondensation of AB -type monomers will result in soluble highly branched polymers and he calculated the molecular weight distribution (MWD) and its averages using a statistical derivation. Ill-defined branched polycondensates were reported even earlier [7,8]. In 1972, Baker et al. reported the polycondensation of polyhydrox-ymonocarboxylic acids, (OH)nR-COOH, where n is an integer from two to six [ 9]. In 1982, Kricheldorf et al. [ 10] pubhshed the cocondensation of AB and AB2 monomers to form branched polyesters. However, only after Kim and Webster published the synthesis of pure hyperbranched polyarylenes from an AB2 monomer in 1988 [11-13], this class of polymers became a topic of intensive research by many groups. A multitude of hyperbranched polymers synthesized via polycondensation of AB2 monomers have been reported, and many reviews have been published [1,2,14-16]. 

Polymers and supermolecules modified using electron push-pull chro-mophores are also of particular interest for nonlinear optics (NLO) [10-15]. NLO material has attracted much interest over the past 20 years and has been widely applied in various field (telecommunications, optical data storage, information processing, microfabrication, etc.). Chemists have developed ways to introduce NLO chromophores into many type of polymers, such as Hnear polymers, cross-linked polymers, and branched polymers, and have demonstrated their performance in NLO appHcations. 

Bueche extended his theory of melt viscosity, as affected by chain entanglements, to branched polymers, and obtained (55) the result ... 

Bueche,F. Viscosity of polymers in concentrated solution, J. Chem. Phys. 25, 599-600 (1956). See also Bueche,F. Viscosity of molten branched polymers and their concentrated solutions. J. Chem. Phys. 40,484-487 (1964). 

Fig. 8. The rooted tree lattice for a tetrafunctionally branched polymer, and the average population of units in the n-th generation when a was the extent of reaction of the functional groups...

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