Dendrimer-induced Synthesis of Subnano Materials and their Characterization: Establishing Atom Hybrid Science

Abstract

The precise molecular design of functional dendritic polymers enables the accumulation of multiple metals within the molecular cage. We have established the synthesizing methodology of metallodendrimers where the number of constituent atoms, the choice of elements, and the composition ratio were precisely controlled through the intramolecular Lewis acid-base interaction at each branch part of phenylazomethine dendrons. Chemical reduction of metallodendrimers, due to their inherent capsule effect, generates homogeneous subnanoparticles with a particle size of about 1 nm in diameter within the dendrimer cage. Fabricated subnanoparticles show amorphous crystal structures with distorted and fluctuated surface atoms and, with such a unique atomic structure, induce peculiar electronic states, surpassing unique and discrete physical and chemical properties of conventional nanoparticles and bulk metals. In this paper, we review the dendrimer-derived synthesis of atomic hybrid subnanoparticles and their application researches established in our laboratory.