Introduction

Abstract

Transition metal-containing dendrimers were first reported in the late 1980s and the early 1990s. This chapter is dedicated to providing a brief historical description of the use of transition metals in medicinal applications and to giving a full description of the various classes of homo- and heterometallic dendrimers. Synthetic strategies for the design of these classes of dendrimers were illustrated using specific examples. These classes include single transition metal or cluster-cored dendrimers, metallic moieties at the periphery or between the branches, metallic moieties in both the core and the branches, and metallic moieties as repeating units within the whole dendrimer architecture. In addition, dendrimer encapsulation of metals or metallic moieties and their applications were also presented.