Discovery of dendrimers and dendritic polymers: A brief historical perspective*

Abstract A brief historical perspective relating the discovery of dendrimers and other dendritic polymers is presented. Dendritic polymers are recognized as the fourth major class of macromolecular architecture consisting of four sub‐ classes, namely, (1) random hyperbranched, (2) dendrigrafts, (3) dendrons, and (4) dendrimers. The previous literature is reviewed with anecdotal events leading to implications for dendrimers in the emerging science of nanotechnology. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 40: 2719–2728, 2002