Dendrimers represent a unique class of nanostructures, playing an important role in the field of nanobiotechnology. The term dendrimer is derived from Greek (dendra means tree and meros means part) and describes highly branched three-dimensional structures. The dendritic architecture was first reported in the late 1970s and the early 1980s by the research groups of Vogtle, Denkwalter, Tomalia, and Newkome (Lee 2005). Poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) dendrimers were the first to be synthesized and developed in Dow Laboratories between 1979 and 1985. After patents on this new technology had been filed, the dendritic architecture was presented to the public by Tomalia in 1983. Although met with initial skepticism as most new scientific inventions are, dendrimers were soon accepted, and by 1991 the number of dendrimer-related publications and presentations began to climb rapidly (Tomalia and Frechet 2001).
Keywords
- Boron Neutron Capture Therapy
- Folate Receptor
- PAMAM Dendrimers
- Oral Drug Delivery
- Betamethasone Valerate
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Kolhatkar, R., Sweet, D., Ghandehari, H. (2008). Functionalized Dendrimers as Nanoscale Drug Carriers. In: Torchilin, V. (eds) Multifunctional Pharmaceutical Nanocarriers. Fundamental Biomedical Technologies, vol 4. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-76554-9_7
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