ダウ・ケミカルのドナルド・トマリア(Donald Tomalia)は1984年、京都のSPSJ International Polymer Conferenceにて、規則的に複数段階に分岐した高分子[8]の合成法について初めて発表した[9]。さらに1985年には特許[10]と論文[11][12]も発表された。デンドリマーという言葉が初めて使われたのも、1985年のトマリアの論文である[9]。トマリアの方法は、中心から外側に向かって枝を伸ばしていくというものだったので、この方法は「ダイバージェント法」と呼ばれる[13]。
同じ1985年、エモリー大学のジョージ・ニューコム(George R. Newkome)も規則的に複数段階に分岐した高分子を合成している[14]。
^D. Astruc, E. Boisselier, C. Ornelas (2010). “Dendrimers Designed for Functions: From Physical, Photophysical, and Supramolecular Properties to Applications in Sensing, Catalysis, Molecular Electronics, and Nanomedicine”. Chem. Rev.110 (4): 1857–1959. doi:10.1021/cr900327d.
^Vögtle, Fritz / Richardt, Gabriele / Werner, Nicole Dendrimer Chemistry Concepts, Syntheses, Properties, Applications 2009 ISBN 3-527-32066-0
^ abNanjwade, Basavaraj K.; Hiren M. Bechraa, Ganesh K. Derkara, F.V. Manvia, Veerendra K. Nanjwade (2009). “Dendrimers: Emerging polymers for drug-delivery systems”. European Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences (Elsevier) 38 (3): 185–196. doi:10.1016/j.ejps.2009.07.008. PMID19646528.
^Egon Buhleier, Winfried Wehner, Fritz Vögtle (1978). “"Cascade"- and "Nonskid-Chain-like" Syntheses of Molecular Cavity Topologies”. Synthesis1978 (2): 155–158. doi:10.1055/s-1978-24702.
^D. A. Tomalia, H. Baker, J. Dewald, M. Hall, G. Kallos, S. Martin, J. Roeck, J. Ryder and P. Smith (1985). “A New Class of Polymers: Starburst-Dendritic Macromolecules”. Polymer Journal17: 117. doi:10.1295/polymj.17.117.
^ abGeorge R. Newkome, Zhongqi Yao, Gregory R. Baker, Vinod K. Gupta (1985). “Micelles. Part 1. Cascade molecules: a new approach to micelles. A [27]-arborol”. J. Org. Chem.50 (11): 2003. doi:10.1021/jo00211a052.
^Hawker, C. J.; Fréchet, J. M. J. (1990). “Preparation of polymers with controlled molecular architecture. A new convergent approach to dendritic macromolecules”. J. Am. Chem. Soc.112 (21): 7638. doi:10.1021/ja00177a027.
^Bifunctional Dendrimers: From Robust Synthesis and Accelerated One-Pot Postfunctionalization Strategy to Potential Applications P. Antoni, Y. Hed, A. Nordberg, D. Nyström, H. von Holst, A. Hult and M. Malkoch Angew. Int. Ed., 2009, 48 (12), pp 2126-2130 doi:10.1002/anie.200804987PMID19117006
^Robust, Efficient, and Orthogonal Synthesis of Dendrimers via Thiol-ene “Click” Chemistry Kato L. Killops, Luis M. Campos and Craig J. Hawker J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2008, 130 (15), pp 5062–5064 doi:10.1021/ja8006325
^Noda K, Minatogawa Y, Higuchi T (March 1991). “Effects of hippocampal neurotoxicant, trimethyltin, on corticosterone response to a swim stress and glucocorticoid binding capacity in the hippocampus in rats”. Jpn. J. Psychiatry Neurol.45 (1): 107–8. PMID1753450.
^Machaiah JP (May 1991). “Changes in macrophage membrane proteins in relation to protein deficiency in rats”. Indian J. Exp. Biol.29 (5): 463–7. PMID1916945.
^Dendrimer Design Using Cu(I)-Catalyzed Alkyne-Azide Click Chemistry, G. Franc, A. Kakkar Chem. Comm., 2008, pp 5267 - 5276 doi:10.1039/b809870k
^ abMorgan, Meredith T.; Yuka Nakanishi, David J. Kroll, Aaron P. Griset, Michael A. Carnahan, Michel Wathier, Nicholas H. Oberlies, Govindarajan Manikumar, Mansukh C. Wani and Mark W. Grinstaff (2006Meredith T. Morgan1). “Dendrimer-Encapsulated Camptothecins”. American Association for Cancer Research (1 Department of Chemistry, Duke University, 2 Department of Ophthalmology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina; 3 Natural Products Laboratory, Research Triangle Institute, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina; and 4 Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Chemistry, Metcalf Center for Science and Engineering, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts) 66 (24): 11913–21. doi:10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-06-2066. PMID17178889.
^Tekade, Rakesh Kumar; Tathagata Dutta, Virendra Gajbhiye and Narendra Kumar Jain (2009). “Exploring dendrimer towards dual drug delivery”. Journal of Microencapsulation(英語版) (Pharmaceutics Research Laboratory, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Dr Hari Singh Gour University,) 26 (4): 287–296. doi:10.1080/02652040802312572. PMID18791906.
^Tathagata Dutta and N.K.Jain Targeting Potential and Anti HIV activity of mannosylated fifth generation poly (propyleneimine) Dendrimers. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta. 2007; 1770: 681-686.
^Tathagata Dutta, Minakshi Garg, Narendra K. Jain. Targeting of Efavirenz Loaded Tuftsin Conjugated Poly(propyleneimine) dendrimers to HIV infected macrophages in vitro. Eur. J. Pharm. Sci. 2008.34(2-3):181-189.
^Tathagata Dutta, Hrushikesh B. Agashe, Minakshi Garg, Prahlad Balakrishnan, Madhulika Kabra, & Narendra K. Jain. Poly (propyleneimine) dendrimer based nanocontainers for targeting of efavirenz to human monocytes/macrophages in vitro. Journal of Drug Targeting. 2007; 15(1): 84-96.
^Cheng, Yiyun; Qinglin Wu, Yiwen Li, and Tongwen Xu (2008). “External Electrostatic Interaction versus Internal Encapsulation between Cationic Dendrimers and Negatively Charged Drugs: Which Contributes More to Solubility Enhancement of the Drugs?”. Journal of Physical Chemistry B (Laboratory of Functional Membranes, Department of Chemistry, University of Science and Technology of China) 112 (30): 8884–8890. doi:10.1021/jp801742t. PMID18605754.
^Fu, Hui-Li; Si-Xue Cheng, Xian-Zheng Zhang, Ren-Xi Zhuo (2008). “Dendrimer/DNA complexes encapsulated functional biodegradable polymer for substrate-mediated gene delivery”. The Journal of Gene Medicine (Key Laboratory of Biomedical Polymers of Ministry of Education,Department of Chemistry, Wuhan University, Wuhan, People’s Republic of China) 10 (12): 1334–1342. doi:10.1002/jgm.1258. PMID18816481.
^Fu, HL; Cheng SX, Zhang XZ (2007). “Dendrimer/DNA complexes encapsulated in a water soluble polymer and supported on fast degrading star poly(DL-lactide) for localized gene delivery”. Journal of Control Release (Key Laboratory of Biomedical Polymers of Ministry of Education, Department of Chemistry, Wuhan University) 124 (3): 181–188.. doi:10.1016/j.jconrel.2007.08.031. PMID17900738.
^Tathagata Dutta, Minakshi Garg, and N.K.Jain. Poly(propyleneimine) dendrimer and dendrosome based genetic immunization against Hepatitis B. Vaccine. 2008. 26(27-28): 3389-3394.
^Fernandes, Edson G. R.; Vieira, Nirton C. S.; de Queiroz, Alvaro A. A.; Guimaraes, Francisco E. G.; Zucolotto, Valtencir. (2010). “Immobilization of Poly(propylene imine) Dendrimer/Nickel Phtalocyanine as Nanostructured Multilayer Films To Be Used as Gate Membranes for SEGFET pH Sensors”. Journal of Physical Chemistry C (American Chemical Society) 114 (14): 6478–6483. doi:10.1021/jp9106052.
^Campos, Bruno B; Algarra, Manuel; Esteves da Silva, Joaquim C. G (2010). “Fluorescent Properties of a Hybrid Cadmium Sulfide-Dendrimer Nanocomposite and its Quenching with Nitromethane”. Journal of Fluorescence (Springer) 20 (1): 143–151. doi:10.1007/s10895-009-0532-5. PMID19728051.
^Grabchev, Ivo; Staneva, Desislava; Chovelon, Jean-Marc (2010). “Photophysical investigations on the sensor potential of novel, poly(propylenamine) dendrimers modified with 1,8-naphthalimide units”. Dyes and Pigments (Elsevier Ltd.,) 85 (3): 189–193. doi:10.1016/j.dyepig.2009.10.023.
^Twyman, Lance J.; Ge, Yi (2006). “Porphyrin cored hyperbranched polymers as heme protein models”. Chemical Communications (15): 1658. doi:10.1039/b600831n. ISSN1359-7345.
^Twyman, Lance J.; Ellis, Adam; Gittins, Peter J. (2012). “Pyridine encapsulated hyperbranched polymers as mimetic models of haeme containing proteins, that also provide interesting and unusual porphyrin-ligand geometries”. Chem. Commun.48 (1): 154–156. doi:10.1039/C1CC14396D. ISSN1359-7345.
^Crooks, Richard; Scott, Wilson (September 2005). “Synthesis, Characterization, and Applications of Dendrimer-Encapsulated Nanoparticles”. American Chemical Society (109): 692-704.