The Design and Applications of 1,8-naphthalimide-poly(amidoamine) Dendritic Platforms

Poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) is easily prepared with ethylenediamine as the precursor to form a dendritic structure with a size of 1.4 -11.4 nm from generation 1 to 10. The terminal amino groups of PAMAM could be grafted active species, such as 1,8-naphthalimide (NI) or its derivatives, to integrate their photophysical properties into PAMAM as NI-PAMAM. With/without metals, the new dendritic platforms can be found for different applications, including but not limited to sensing, imaging, antibacterial, anticancer, and liquid crystal and battery matrix. By controlling the different generations of dendrimers, the precise size less than 10 nm can be realized. In this review, we a) provide an overview of the 1,8-naphthalimide-poly(amidoamine) dendritic platforms and b) prospect that functionalized dendrimers (high algebra) could act as 128;œnanoparticles128; with the precise size to bridge the gap between functional molecules and real nanoparticles.