Highly Branched Polymer Architectures: Specific Structural Features and Their Characterization

Abstract

This article gives a brief overview about the general synthetic procedures for branched polymers with special focus on highly branched and dendritic architectures. The characterization of these materials is not trivial, thus, special characterization techniques and approaches for their structural analysis are presented. The specific thermal properties as well as solution properties of branched polymers are discussed. The basic determination of the degree of branching, molar mass and conformation is explained in detail. Furthermore, special characterization techniques together with novel developments in branching characterization are briefly introduced. Finally, the structural features and specific analysis of novel branched structures and linear‐branched hybrids are emphasized.