ABSTRACT
Dendrimers are nanometer-scaled materials contained with three major components: a central core, an interior dendritic structure (the branches), and an exterior surface with variety of functional surface groups. Presence of diverse components in a dendrimer molecule provide a unique feature of shapes, sizes and they are potent candidate for applications in both biological and materials sciences. The variety of attached surface groups improved the solubility and bioavailability, and sustained drug releasing characteristics. Dendrimers have wide variety of applications as highlighted in this chapter including drug delivery, energy harvesting, gene delivery, catalysis, photo thermal activity, rheology modification. The three-dimensional macromolecular structure of dendrimer is broadly recognized to generate polydisperse 18products with different molecular weights that are helpful in manipulating biological properties, self-assembling, electrostatic interactions, chemical stability, low cytotoxicity, disease targetability and solubility. These diverse features make dendrimers a unique material for the medical field, and this chapter discusses their applications.
