Preface

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 dedicated 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.
Due to the possibility of preparing a variety of different dendrimer types with
perfectly or less precisely directed macroarchitecture, synergistic effects can
be expected with an appropriate design. Some interesting questions such as dendritic combinatorial libraries have only been touched on as yet. Therefore properties beyond those of conventional building blocks might result.
The First International Dendrimer Symposium which took place in the
DECHEMA-building in Frankfurt (35 October 1999) brought together many
chemists who had been working in different fields. It showed that the new
type of molecular cascade architecture, initiated 22 years ago, has meanwhile
developed a significant potential with promising options for the future brought
about by the current theoretical, computational and experimental possibilties.
We hope that this new collection of reviews will help all chemists to further
develop this stimulating branching of branches in this field of research.
Bonn, April 2000

F. Vgtle