Silicon-based dendrimers

This review focuses on dendrimers with Si-atoms as branching point, aiming at a comprehensive summary of the state of the art of the field. Carbosilan e, siloxane, silane, silazane, and silatrane dendrimers are considered. The important features common to Si-based dendrimers are: (i) almost all of th e Si-based dendrimers known at present are prepared divergently; (ii) most of the known Si-based dendrimers exhibit high flexibility, manifested by lo w glass transition temperatures; (iii) the use of Si as branching connectiv ity permits one to vary the branching multiplicity between 2 and 3, allowin g one to tailor the density of the structures. Hyperbranched polymers based on silicon that fulfill the structural criterion are also considered, sinc e it is likely that many of the applications discussed for structurally per fect dendrimers at present will eventually be realized with well-defined hy perbranched polymers obtained in one reaction step.