Adv Polym Sci (2013) 261: 173–198
DOI: 10.1007/12_2013_273
© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013
Published online: 17 November 2013
From Synthetic Macromolecules to
Biological-Like Complex Systems
Virgil Percec
Abstract “His Majesty the Hirohito Emperor of Japan asks: Professor Staudinger,
is this a concept that came into your mind to explain various phenomenological
behaviors of a group of compounds or did you really prove their existence by
rigorous scientific means? The highly impressed Professor Staudinger answers: It is
this experimental demonstration of the existence of macromolecules which forms
the essential part of my work in the field of Macromolecular Science.” From the
discussion between the Emperor of Japan and Professor Staudinger on 17th of April
1957 at the Imperial Palace of Japan
Keywords Biological mimics Á Macromolecules Á Self-assembly Á Supramolecular
Chemistry
Contents
1 Hermann Staudinger Haus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
2 What Did Hermann Staudinger Do Conceptually New for Organic Chemistry? . . . . . . . . 177
3 From the Discovery of Self-Assembling Dendrons, Dendrimers, and Dendronized
Polymers to a Materials Genome Approach to Biological-Like Complex Systems . . . . . 179
4 Mediating Chemical Reactivity and Backbone Conformation with Spherical and
Globular Visualizable Macromolecules Generated from Quasi-Equivalent
Self-Assembling Dendrons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
5 Transforming a Helix–Coil into a Helix–Helix Transition and Eliminating
Intramolecular Electrocyclization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
6 Dendritic Dipeptides as Aquaporin Transmembrane Protein Mimics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
7 Self-Assembly of Amphiphilic Janus Dendrimers into Monodisperse and Stable
Dendrimersomes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
8 Glycodendrimersomes as Mimics of Biological Membranes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
V. Percec (*)
Roy and Diana Vagelos Laboratories, Department of Chemistry, University of Pennsylvania,
Philadelphia, PA 19103-6323, USA
e-mail: percec@sas.upenn.edu
DOI: 10.1007/12_2013_273
© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013
Published online: 17 November 2013
From Synthetic Macromolecules to
Biological-Like Complex Systems
Virgil Percec
Abstract “His Majesty the Hirohito Emperor of Japan asks: Professor Staudinger,
is this a concept that came into your mind to explain various phenomenological
behaviors of a group of compounds or did you really prove their existence by
rigorous scientific means? The highly impressed Professor Staudinger answers: It is
this experimental demonstration of the existence of macromolecules which forms
the essential part of my work in the field of Macromolecular Science.” From the
discussion between the Emperor of Japan and Professor Staudinger on 17th of April
1957 at the Imperial Palace of Japan
Keywords Biological mimics Á Macromolecules Á Self-assembly Á Supramolecular
Chemistry
Contents
1 Hermann Staudinger Haus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
2 What Did Hermann Staudinger Do Conceptually New for Organic Chemistry? . . . . . . . . 177
3 From the Discovery of Self-Assembling Dendrons, Dendrimers, and Dendronized
Polymers to a Materials Genome Approach to Biological-Like Complex Systems . . . . . 179
4 Mediating Chemical Reactivity and Backbone Conformation with Spherical and
Globular Visualizable Macromolecules Generated from Quasi-Equivalent
Self-Assembling Dendrons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
5 Transforming a Helix–Coil into a Helix–Helix Transition and Eliminating
Intramolecular Electrocyclization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
6 Dendritic Dipeptides as Aquaporin Transmembrane Protein Mimics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
7 Self-Assembly of Amphiphilic Janus Dendrimers into Monodisperse and Stable
Dendrimersomes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
8 Glycodendrimersomes as Mimics of Biological Membranes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
V. Percec (*)
Roy and Diana Vagelos Laboratories, Department of Chemistry, University of Pennsylvania,
Philadelphia, PA 19103-6323, USA
e-mail: percec@sas.upenn.edu