Starburst-limited generation

Fig. 1.19 Attainment of the limiting generation in dendrimer growth as a result of the starburst limit effect (schematic idealised)...

As early as 1983, de Gennes and Hervet [85] proposed a simple equation derived from fundamental principles, to predict the Starburst limited or dense-packed generation mt for PAM AM dendrimers. Based on ideal dendrimer growth, with tertiary amine branch junctures connected by linear, flexible branch cell segments P, this equation relates m, to the branch cell segment length 1 or P ... 

In this fashion, it is possible to control the critical molecular design parameters (CMDPs, i.e., size, shape, topology, flexibility, and surface chemistry) and grow predictable, stoichiometric structures up to a self-limited dimension (generation) which is determined by Nc and Nb as well as by the dimensions of the structural components. Such space-filling, terminally functionalized molecular organizations have been coined Starburst dendrimers [2]. Two dimensional projections of such molecular morphogenesis [1] are as illustrated in Fig. 2. 

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