Metal-containing dendritic polymers

Abstract

Metal-containing dendrimers (metallodendrimers) have attracted a great deal of attention recently and their study is becoming a growing field. Many workers have entered the field and it is rapidly developing. In this review, the preparation, characterisation and applications of metal-containing dendrimers are discussed. The principal methodologies for the preparation of dendrimers are first demonstrated and then the derivatisation of organic dendrimers to form suitable potential ligands is presented. Finally the formation of transition-metal complexes of the dendrimers is discussed. The manuscript is organised such that the metallodendrimers are discussed by donor element in the dendrimer. As one might expect, phoshine and nitrogen-donor complexes have dominated this initial phase of synthesis. However, there are reports of metallodendrimers with a wide variety of donor atoms. In the few years since the first metallodendrimers were prepared, the field has moved rapidly towards potential applications, and this has been noted. © Elsevier Science Ltd.