Dendrimers II - Architecture, Nanostructure and Supramolecular Chemistry (Hardcover, 2000 ed.)

Topics in Current Chemistry volume 197, entitled Dendrimers, turned out to be so attractive to the readers that it was extremely successful and this encouraged us to continue.In addition, the first volume was exclusively dedic- ed to dendrimer chemistry, which covers only a small selection of the topics in this field. Moreover, the subject dendrimers has undergone a further upturn since the publication of the first volume.The present volume Dendrimers II by pioneers in this new research field deals with the aspects of dendrimers mentioned in the subtitle but also touches on areas beyond chemistry. What makes dendrimers so attractive that chemists have difficulty in avoiding them? Virtually every chemist can contribute to dendrimer chemistry, be it with a certain synthetic method which is also applicable to dendritic structures, be it with polymer chemical and analytical methods or supramolecular aspects such as host/guest interactions.Dendrimers have developed into an amalgam, into a market place of chemistry in which all the branches of chemistry organic, inorganic, physical-chemical, polymer-chemical or analytical chemistry have come together and stimulate each other.Dendrimers have become a molecular reaction vessel in the figurative sense. Similarly biological and material sciences benefit, for dendrimers have proved to be useful in diagnostics, as a component of thin layers, in catalysis as well as in nano sciences.This inter-disciplinary input has stimulated chemistry as a whole in that it has led to the development of optimized analytical devices."