BLOSSOMING OF DENDRIMERS

The chemistry of highly branched macromolecules known as dendrimers is blossoming, judging from a conference held in Frankfurt last month. But can this relatively new field of research bear fruit in terms of applications? The answer is a definite but qualified "yes," according to several speakers at the first-ever international symposium devoted to the topic. Suggested applications include drug delivery, energy harvesting, ion sensing, catalysis, and information storage. The 1st International Dendrimer Symposium was organized by DECHEMA, a Frankfurt-based German nonprofit society concerned with chemical engineering, chemical technology, and biotechnology. Topics included not only potential applications of dendrimers and their close cousins—the hyperbranched polymers—but also their design, synthesis, structure, analysis, and properties. The conference, which was attended by 183 participants from 21 countries, attracted many of the pioneers and leading lights in the field of dendrimer chemistry. One of them...