The importance of Dendrimers in the Pharmaceutical Uses

Abstract

The development of molecular nanostructures with well-defi ned particle shapes and sizes, such as dendrimers and dendritic structures, are of great importance. New nanomaterials could be prepared using these structures as building blocks. Unique properties of dendritic macromolecules make them much more useful for biomedical and pharmaceutical applications than linear polymers. Therefore, over the last three decades, dendrimers have found a special place in polymer-based pharmaceutical technology. This chapter describes the general characteristics of dendrimers, synthetic methodologies and their properties. Finally, some characteristic examples of dendrimers used in the fields of pharmaceutical science and nanomedicine are presented. Since successful applications of dendrimers and dendritic structures are feasible on a small scale, a promising future can be seen for their use in these fi elds.