Dendritic macromolecules, host-guest

Dendrimers and dendrons are appealing types of nanoscale, highly branched, macromolecules, which, because of their structure and properties, have attracted the interest of many researches worldwide. The preceding text has tried to summarize the different selective supramolecular aspects about their properties, structure, potential diversity, and applications to nonspecialized scientists. An introduction of these dendritic structures has combined a short description of the structure and synthesis with some historical perspectives, followed by a classification of dendritic structures, as covalent and noncovalent entities. Emphases have been given to their host-guest capacity to encapsulate small molecules, ions, or nanoparticles, as well as to interact with themselves or other nano-objects. The continued investigation in many fields of these unique architectures has produced a wide variety of branched fractal constructs, which undoubtedly will continue to spark the imagination of future synthetic architects. 

Other morphologies can be obtained, i.e. dendritic nanoclusters and nanotubes, with different chemical approaches which generate a wide variety of different nanoscale architectures and have a promising potential in host-guest chemistry and nanotechnology [76,77]. Asymmetrically functionalized dendritic blocks, e.g. den-drons with polar and apolar groups, self-assemble to produce macromolecules with surfactant properties [78-81]. 

Dendritic architectures have attracted the interest of many scientists recently. The aesthetically pleasing tree-like moleeules combine advanced synthesis and unique properties with the prospects of supramolecular technologies. The guest-host properties of these well-defined macromolecules are of great interest, because they resemble the interactions of small molecules with biomacromolecules like proteins, and they are able to close the gap between the traditional supramolecular interactions of smaller molecules and the interactions in larger (phase-separated) macromolecular systems. In recent years a large number of interesting results have been reported, in which supramolecular interactions and dendritic architectures are combined. 

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