The importance of Dendrimers in the Pharmaceutical Uses

VERÓNICA BRUNETTI; MARISA MARTINELLI; MIRIAM STRUMIA; VIJAY K. THAKUR ; MANJU K. THAKU

Handbook of Polymers for Pharmaceutical Technologies

Wiley.

Año: 2015; p. 1 - 30

The development of molecular nanostructures with well-defined particle shape and size,such as dendrimers and dendritic structures, are of great importance. New nanomaterials couldbe prepared using these structures as building blocks. Unique properties of dendriticmacromolecules make them much more useful for biomedical and pharmaceutical applicationsthan linear polymers. Therefore, over the last three decades, dendrimers have found a specialplace in polymer-based pharmaceutical technology. This chapter describes general characteristicsof dendrimers, synthetic methodologies and their properties. Though, successful applications ofdendrimers and dendritic structures are feasible at small scale, a promising future onpharmaceutical and nanomedicine fields is at glance. Finally, some characteristic examples ofdendrimers used in these fields are presented.