Talk:Dendrimer

Density Profile
I notice that the Tomalia/deGennes-Hervet density profile (propaganda science depicting an entropic disaster - I guess it sells dendrimers, though) is still depicted in picture after picture. The reader would be well-served by reading experimental some of the folks in NIST (I forget who), Rubinstein, Mansfield, and some molecular dynamics simulations. You'll see a very different (and accurate) picture of what dendrimers REALLY look like in solution.

Denkwalter or Tomalia?
Because of the recent changes back and forth in representing either Denkwalter (referencing his 1983 patent) or Tomalia (referencing his 1979 work at Dow Chemical) as the originator of the Dendrimer, I thought it would be best to leave this point open to discussion. Please add your comments below. The topic of discussion is who first conceptualized the dendrimer and who first synthesized them. --Dirkbike 19:31, 17 September 2006 (UTC)


 * It seems that most of the edits removing Tomalia's name are done by someone from Dendritech (192.251.56.2 being www.denritech.com and 24.231.161.247 pointing to a residential address in Bay City, MI area where Dendritech is located). With simple Google search showing that Tomalia was in fact one of the founders of Dendritech so it appears to me that this has nothing to do with who invented dendrimers and we're simply dealing with either personal grudge or business dispute, or both.  In either case, this is petty and pathetic.  As far as who was the first - both should be included, let the people decide.
 * On a separate note there's a vast number of publications on dendrimers out there, and showcasing a particular one, even if it is in Nature is misleading, so that part may need to go.Gauche 20:01, 19 September 2006 (UTC)

The question of who first conceptualized something is often a matter of opinion and therefore should be avoided in encyclopedia articles like this one. What could be documented factographically, however, is who first published what, since there is material evidence for this that could be found through a thorough literature search. For dendrimers, the evidence is as follows. The first publication of a divergent or "cascade" synthesis was by Fritz Vogtle et al., Synthesis, 155, 1978. The first disclosures of dendrimers are in the patents by Robert Denkewalter et al., 4,289,872 (published 1981, filed 1979) and 4,410,688 (published 1983, filed 1981). The first relevant Dow patent is 4,507,466 (published 1985, filed 1983) and the first published papers on dendrimers in scientific journals were by G. R. Newkome et al., J. Org. Chem., 50, 2003, 1985 and D. A. Tomalia et al., Polymer J. (Tokyo) 17, 117, 1985. It is based on evidence like these that the priority should be awarded. On a separate note: DSM has withdrawn from the dendrimer production in 2003.


 * please sign your comments with 4 tildes ~ in a row thanks. I have included the references you provided, when people disagree please give your references with DOI or link to patent in the article. Lets try to focus on actual providing content? Readers interested in dendrimers are first of all interested in what they are not who invented them V8rik 20:52, 22 September 2006 (UTC).

Dendrimers as polymers
I noticed on the main page that dendrimers are specifically stated to not be polymers on the basis that they have an exact structure (no molecular weight distribution). I do not believe that this is a valid argument. Similar matters have been discussed on the polymer page and, while there is some disagreement, I believe the general consensus was that the definition of polymer should not be limited by synthetic method or final structure. The line between dendrimers and linear polymers is bridged by the category of hyperbranched polymers and I see no reason why a molecule should cease to be labeled a polymer because it has attained an "exact" structure. If I was trying to make a dendrimer, but 2% of my endgroups didn't react, would I have accidentally created a polymer because it now has a molecular weight distribution. Please let me know what you think. Thanks. PolymerTim (talk) 03:18, 17 January 2008 (UTC)


 * I completely agree. this line should be taken out Because of the lack of the molar mass distribution high-molar-mass dendrimers and dendrons are macromolecules but not polymers V8rik (talk) 17:03, 17 January 2008 (UTC)


 * Why should dendrimers be perfectly monodisperse? No chemical reaction has a perfect conversion. Here few references where estimates of the polydispersity of dendrimers is made: Betley et al. Langmuir 2001, 17, 2768; Rathgeber et al., J. Chem. Phys. 2002, 117, 4047. Williams12357 (talk) 09:23, 17 May 2012 (UTC)

Plagiarism and click chemistry
See recent edit comment by user:Chem538w10grp10, two quick questions. What section of the deleted content was plagiarised? I am unaware of an article on dendrimers and click chemistry, what article do you rever to? Thanks. V8rik (talk) 19:01, 21 April 2010 (UTC)

Structural Perfection
Article says "Dendritic molecules are characterized by structural perfection." Please define structural perfection.92.194.95.161 (talk) 00:42, 6 January 2013 (UTC)

Dendrimer for use in Crop Protection and Agrochemicals
Given dendrimders are used for a wide variety of purposes, it may be relevant to includes its applications in agricultural chemicals (aka agrochemicals):

Given the widespread use of pesticides, herbicides and insecticides in modern farming, dendrimers are also being used by companies to help improve the delivery of agrochemicals to enable healthier plant growth and to help fight plant diseases.

WE Buchan (talk) 00:40, 26 September 2016 (UTC)

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Wrong definition of dendrimers
Not every dendrimer has to be a polymer as written in this post, low molecular weight dendrimers such as 1st generation PAMAM will be oligomers not polymers. In support of my claim I attach definition of liquid crystal dendrimer by IUPAC. "A highly-branched oligomer or polymer of dendritic structure containing mesogenic groups that can display mesophase behaviour." Source: PAC, 2002, 74, 493 (Definitions of basic terms relating to polymer liquid crystals(IUPAC Recommendations 2001)) on page 506 2A01:112F:6A7:1C00:745F:26A8:D5A3:42A5 (talk) 12:37, 11 September 2023 (UTC)


 * How does the post impose that every dendrimer is a polymer by this line. "Dendrimers are highly ordered, branched polymeric molecules". Polymer molecule (Macromolecule) by IUPAC was described as "A molecule of high relative molecular mass, the structure of which essentially comprises the multiple repetition of units derived, actually or conceptually, from molecules of low relative molecular mass." So I so suggest changing to "Dendrimers are highly ordered, branched polymeric or oligomeric molecules" 2A01:112F:6A7:1C00:745F:26A8:D5A3:42A5 (talk) 12:55, 11 September 2023 (UTC)