A fast track strategy toward highly functionalized dendrimers with different structural layers: an “onion peel approach”

Abstract

An accelerated strategy depending on different chemical building blocks between each layer, coined “onion peel”, was used to construct a library of third generation dendrimers with 108, 180 and 252 hydroxyl surface groups using a combination of microwave assisted highly efficient CuAAC and thiol–ene reactions. These dendrimers were conveniently acquired with high purity and good yields in a divergent manner using a variety of orthogonal and dense AB₃, AB₅, and AB₇ building blocks. The resulting polyhydroxylated dendrimers tested in several human cell types did not impair mitochondrial metabolic function or cell viability suggesting that they are good candidates for applications in biological investigations.