In the last two decades, a novel polymeric nanoarchitecture has attracted the attention of many scientists. These compounds, named dendrimers, have been tried successfully for diverse nanotecnologic aplications. Dendrimers are highly branched and monodisperse macromolecules with symmetrical architecture, distinguished by exponential numbers of discrete dendritic branches radiating out from a common core. These unique structural attributes confer a shape to dendrimers after several layers of branching (i.e. generations) owing to surface congestion. The precise nanoscale sizes, shapes, surface chemistries and architectures of these dendritic nanoestructures have a great impact on their physical and chemical properties. As a result of their unique behavior dendrimers have emerged as interesting materials suitable for a wide range of biomedical and optoelectronic applications. The resulting multifunctional dendrimer surfaces are amenable to a wide range of chemical modifications, and the interior is characterized by the availability of a substantial amount of solvent-filled void space that might be suitable for host–guest chemistry. This type of architecture induces the formation of a nano-environment, which determines its solubilizing or encapsulating properties; while the external groups primarily characterize the solubility and chemical behavior. Therefore, dendrimers have emerged as one of the most promising innovative vehicles for drug delivery of different therapeutic agents. In addition, the dendritic architecture have been explored in terms of their electronic and optoelectronic properties. They provides a number of attractive properties, including the ability to independently control the processing and optoelectronic properties; providing the processing power to enable simple chromophores to be deposited as stable amorphous films; dendrimer generation as a tool for controlling the intermolecular interactions that govern device performance; and the ability in well-defined dendrimers to have high chemical purity.

In this presentation a summary of the dendrimers’ physicochemical properties and their possible use in various areas of research, technology and treatment will be introduced. Also the application of different dendrimeric structures in biomedical research and development will be descripted. The utilization of dendrimers for therapeutic drug encapsulation and delivery developed in our laboratory will be detailed, together with the development of electro and photoactive starburst dendrimers, capable to form electrochemically active polymers with potential applications in electronic and optoelectronic devices.