Cascade-branched polymers

The history of dendrimer chemistry can be traced to the foundations laid down by Flory [34] over fifty years ago, particularly his studies concerning macro-molecular networks and branched polymers. More than two decades after Flory s initial groundwork (1978) Vogtle et al. [28] reported the synthesis and characterization of the first example of a cascade molecule. Michael-type addition of a primary amine to acrylonitrile (the linear monomer) afforded a tertiary amine with two arms. Subsequent reduction of the nitriles afforded a new diamine, which, upon repetition of this simple synthetic sequence, provided the desired tetraamine (1, Fig. 2) thus the advent of the iterative synthetic process and the construction of branched macromolecular architectures was at hand. Further growth of Vogtle s original dendrimer was impeded due to difficulties associated with nitrile reduction, which was later circumvented [35, 36]. This procedure eventually led to DSM s commercially available polypropylene imine) dendrimers. 

This article deals with one of the above mentioned subjects already treated in the 1940 s branched polymers. We present a survey of a number of scattering functions for special branched polymer structures. Hie basis of these model calculations is still the Flory-Stockmayer (FS) theory1,14,15) but now endowed with the more powerful technique of cascade theory which greatly simplifies the calculations. 

Recent intense research efforts have focused on the synthesis of multi-branched polymers (i.e., cascade molecules) that can be characterized by their uniform branching, radial symmetry, dense packing, entanglement-free globular shapes, and large number of chain ends at their peripheries. 

Figure 11.7 Syntheses of (a) a Newkome cascade molecule and (b) a Tomalia starburst dendrimer. Repetition of the synthetic steps produces much larger highly branched polymers. (Reproduced with permission from G. R. Newkome et al., Dendrimers and Dendrons Concepts, Syntheses, Applications, p. 55. Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, Germany, 2001.)...

Into a special category should be placed starburst dendrimer polymers. These molecules are formed by growing them in three dimensions. These materials often possess radially symmetrical star-shaped structures with successive cascades of branched polymer structures. For additional discussions see Chap. 6. 

Branched macromolecules fall into three main classes star-branched polymers, characterized by multiple chains linked at one central point (Roovers, 1985), comb-branched polymers, having one linear backbone and side chains randomly distributed along it (Rempp et al., 1988), and dendritic polymers, with a multilevel branched architecture (Tomalia and Frechet, 2001). The cascade-branched structure of dendritic polymers is typically derived from polyfunctional monomers under more or less strictly controlled polymerization conditions. This class of macromolecules has a unique combination of features and, as a result, a broad spectrum of applications is being developed for these materials in areas including microencapsulation, drag delivery, nanotechnology, polymer processing additives, and catalysis. 

The synthesis and study of dendrimers is a relatively new branch of macro-molecular chemistry. It began in 1985 with the publication of two landmark papers (D.A. Tomalia, H. Baker, J. Dewald, J.M. Hall, G. Kallos, R. Martin and J. Ryder, Polym. J., 1985,17,117-132 and G.R. Newkome, Z. Yao, G.R. Baker and V.K. Gupta, J. Org. Chem., 1985, 50, 2003-2004), and has grown to become a very vibrant research field. The word dendrimer comes from the Greek word dendra, meaning tree, and was applied to these compounds by Tomalia et al. in their very first paper. Newkome s team, by contrast, called their molecules arborols from the Latin word arbor, which also means a tree. The term cascade molecule has also been used, but the word dendrimer is the one that is used most widely throughout the literature, and is also used in the present chapter. 

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