Branched and Dendritic Polymer Architectures: Functional Nanomaterials for Therapeutic Delivery

Barriers to therapeutic transport in biological systems can prevent accumulation of drugs at the intended site, thus limiting the therapeutic effect against various diseases. Advances in synthetic chemistry techniques have recently increased the accessibility of complex polymer architectures for drug delivery systems, including branched polymer architectures. This article first outlines drug delivery concepts, and then defines and illustrates all forms of branched polymers including highly branched polymers, hyperbranched polymers, dendrimers, and branched-linear hybrid polymers. Many new types of branched and dendritic polymers continue to be reported; however, there is often confusion about how to accurately describe these complex polymer architectures, particularly in the interdisciplinary field of nanomedicine where not all researchers have in-depth polymer chemistry backgrounds. In this context, the present review describes and compares different branched polymer architectures and their application in therapeutic delivery in a simple and easy-to-understand way, with the aim of appealing to a multidisciplinary audience.