The Role of Silicon in Dendritic Polymer Chemistry

During the last two decades, dendritic polymers, particularly dendrimers and hyper-branched polymers, have become one of the fastest growing areas of interest in polymer science [1]. This can be easily seen from the impressive growth in the number of publications on these unique polymers, which soared from less than a dozen in the 1970s, to over 10,000 (in scientific journals and patent literature) by the end of 2007 [2]. At present, new publications continue to appear regularly, and only the future will tell how much further this trend will continue.

Of many different reasons that may have caused such a great interest in dendritic polymers, the following seem especially important. First, the natural beauty and symmetry of dendritic, particularly dendrimer, structures is hard to resist and it has certainly inspired many scientists to design novel chemical compositions, architectural arrangements and artistic presentations of these unique molecules. Regardless of whether they are shown as simple schematics, or as elaborate computer-generated 3D images, dendritic structures have great aesthetic appeal, and are very inspirational for creative thinking, further modifications or potential applications (see Fig. 1.1).