The macromonomer route to dendronized polymers

The article describes the perhaps most important synthetic access, the so-called macromonomer route to dendronized polymers which are comb polymers with dendrons of varying generations as the teeth. After a brief description of this route in general terms, some recent examples are discussed. The polymerisation mechanisms are either step or chain growth which has considerable impact not only on achievable molar mass and mass distribution but also on the chemical nature of the polymers’ backbone. Even for macromonomers with high generation dendrons, the highest molar mass dendronized polymers presently available are prepared by chain growth procedures.