Dendrimers based on electroactive metal complexes. A review of recent advances

Recent studies in the field of dendrimers based on electroactive metal comp lexes are reviewed. The electroactive units may be present (i) in the core, (ii) in the branches, (iii) in the surface, (iv) in the core and in the br anches, (v) in the core and in the surface, (vi) in the branches and in the surface, and (vii) in the core, branches and surface. Depending on the den drimer structure, the electroactive units can either interact or behave ind ependently. The most interesting features are the shielding of electroactiv e cores by non electroactive branches, the great number of electrons that c an be exchanged in a very narrow potential region by high generation surfac e-functionalized dendrimers, and the tailor-made redox patterns that can be obtained by dendrimers based on metal complexes at each branching centre. A review with 42 references.