Geometric disassembly of dendrimers: dendritic amplification.

Geometric disassembly of dendritic structures was realized by a cascade cleavage reaction triggered by an initially stimulated group at the dendrimer core. Release of an exponential number of dendrimer fragments was a result of the branching nature of the cleavage pathway. Evidence for the completion of the disassembly process was provided by the absorbance peak of the p-nitrophenoxide ion that was covalently installed at the periphery of the dendrons for this purpose. The release by dendrimer disassembly of an exponential number of dendrimer fragments that serve to alter the properties of a system is termed dendritic amplification.