The Packing of PAMAM Dendrimers Generation

Polymerization in microemulsions allows the synthesis of ultrafine latex particles in the size range of 5 to 50 nm with a narrow size distribution [33], The deposition of an ordered monolayer of such spheres is known to be increasingly difficult as the diameter of such particles decreases [34], Vigorous Brownian motion and capillary effects create a state of disorder in the system that is difficult 

The spin coating technique of preparing PAMAM dendrimer samples for AFM is the best method to maintain undistorted dendrimer shape allows the visualization of isolated single dendrimer molecules. In spin coating, a dendrimer solution is rapidly spread across the sample surface and the majority of particles separate from one another. 

In fact, it has been previously observed that measured diameters of dendrimer molecules by AFM are much larger than the theoretical values, which indicates that the dendrimers spread out and flatten on the surface [25, 26], Three major factors could account for this deformation. First, the unique architecture and chemical structure of PAMAM dendrimers result in macromolecules that are not solid balls, but instead are relatively open and hence soft materials. It is expected that the rigidity will increase substantially with increasing generation number [9]. Therefore, when deposited on solid substrates, they tend to deform to different degrees as a result of the interplay between their inherent rigidity and surface energetics from the interaction between the dendrimer molecules and the mica surface. Secondly, amine-terminated PAMAM dendrimers possess a 

PAMAM dendrimers No. of molecules MW (AFM) measured MW theoretical Relative error (%) Polydispersity 

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