Phosphorus-Containing Dendrimers: Uses as Catalysts, for Materials, and in Biology

Abstract

Dendrimers are macromolecules elaborated step by step, and constituted of branching units emanating radially from a central core. Phosphorus-containing dendrimers constitute a special class of dendrimers having one phosphorus atom at each branching point. They possess numerous properties, depending mainly on the type of their terminal groups. With organometallic complexes as terminal functions, these dendrimers are able to catalyze various types of reactions, in various media including water, with good enantioselectivities, easy recycling of the dendritic catalyst, and excellent catalytic efficiencies in many cases. Phosphorus-containing dendrimers were also used for the elaboration of materials incorporating the dendrimers in their structure, and for modifying the properties of the surface of the materials at the nanometric scale. Very sensitive DNA chips were elaborated in this way. Phosphorus-containing dendrimers have also important biological properties. Among them, the activation of the human immune system, in particular with the specific and unprecedented multiplication of some immune cells is certainly the most promising.