A novel divergent approach was developed for the synthesis of dendritic ali
phatic polyester structures using an acetal-protected anhydride derivative
of 2,2-bis(hydroxymethyI)propionic acid as the acylating agent. This diverg
ent synthesis is remarkable, because unlike all others, it only requires a
small excess of reagent to achieve quantitative growth, and it requires no
means of purification other than a simple solvent extraction or precipitati
on. A monodisperse sixth generation dendrimer with molecular weight of 30 7
11 Dalton and 192 masked hydroxyl groups was prepared in high yield and pur
ity using 1,1,1 -tris(hydroxyphenyl)ethane as the core molecule. Linear and
star-shaped poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) derivatives of narrow polydispersi
ty were also used as core molecules in the divergent synthesis of dendritic
-linear copolymer hybrids up to the fourth generation without requiring any
chromatographic purification.