Dendrimers at surfaces and interfaces: chemistry and applications

Dendrimers and supramolecular chemistry

“…In contrast to classical micelles that are thermodynamic aggregates of amphiphilic molecules and therefore dynamic assemblies of small molecules, these ''unimolecular micelles'' are static and retain their cohesion regardless of concentration. Similarly, dendritic molecules with a polar interior and a nonpolar periphery behave as unimolecular reverse micelles capable of extracting and concentrating polar molecules from their solution in nonpolar solvents (44). The shape of such molecules, dissolved in a solvent that matches the polarity of their periphery, is expected to be spherical with chain-ends extended toward the solvent and an interior that may be collapsed to minimize the unfavorable interactions that might result from solvent penetration.…”

“…It is clear that dendrimers have all of these assets and also have the built-in structural, chemical, and physical versatility that will enable the tuning of each of these properties for the specific intended application. The many unique structural features of dendrimers also make them attractive for the modification of surfaces and interfaces (44). A number of studies have explored the ability of dendrimers to form self-assembled monolayers.…”

“…In the absence of a favorable enthalpic contribution, entropy considerations will usually disfavor the mixing of chain-ends with dissimilar inner building blocks. In the case of dendrimer monolayers, molecular interactions between the various components of the dendrimer and with the surface also affect their shape (44)(45)(46).…”

How stable are amphiphilic dendrimers at the liquid–liquid interface?

“…In particular, the possibility of decorating their terminal monomers with a different variety of chemical functions makes dendrimers interesting building blocks for a large range of interfacial materials. 4 Due to the large number of functionalized end groups and their symmetric topology, dendrimers can in fact bind tightly at the interface allowing the formation in water of a large variety of self assembled structures that can be exploited for several applications such as encapsulation or delivery of drugs. 5--11 The synthesis of such multi--function compounds where several chemical functions are combined in one single molecule, is however not trivial.…”

Fluorescent Self-Assembled Polyphenylene Dendrimer Nanofibers

“…[1][2][3][4] Self-assembly of dendrimers with or without guest molecules at the ensemble [5][6][7][8][9][10] as well as the single molecule level 11 is of special interest because this creates a wide collection of novel structures and surfaces with higher complexity and promising properties.…”