Dendrimers and dendrimersomes as a novel tool for effective drug delivery applications

Dendrimers embody tree-like structures with an extremely branched architecture and have demonstrated considerable promise to be employed either as biologically active nanocarrier agents, or as active individual drugs. These could be classified depending on generations, based on either the branch numbers or the type of core, which are used for the synthesis. Dendrimersomes represent a particular category of dendrimers that are formed with either an amphiphilic bow-type, or a Janus architecture. These are processed with a hydrophilic and hydrophobic moiety detached from the phospholipid reminiscent structure via self-assembly in an aqueous solution, toward the fabrication of distinct morphological aggregates of supramolecules. Dendrimersomes are proven to be highly beneficial as nanocarriers in drug delivery and theranostic applications, analogous to dendrimers, liposomes, and polymerosomes. Even though their properties and characteristics are similar to dendrimers, the specific and exclusive abilities of dendrimerosomes are yet to be convincingly explored. The current chapter lays an outline of various synthesis approaches aimed toward the fabrication of novel dendrimers, metallodendrimers, and dendrimerosomes, in recent times. In addition, applications of such dendrimer types, as potential drug delivery agents, are also discussed.