The first thing that strikes one about Dendritic Macromolecules: Concepts, Syntheses, Perspectives by Newkome, Moorefield, and Vögtle is its size. Befitting a book devoted to the largest discrete organic and organometallic compounds known, its considerable height means it will have to reside on the top of most book shelves. The benefit is full, rather than abbreviated, chemical structures. Full structures are most readily understood, and high-generation dendrimers are simply beautiful structures upon which to gaze.

The first chapter, written by W. L. Mattice, is devoted to polymer properties. It serves as a useful and important introduction to those without a polymer chemistry background. The material within this chapter largely stands alone, as subsequent discussions (too few) of the physical and structural aspects of dendrimers do not make significant use of this introductory material. The second chapter, entitled "From Theory to Practice: Historical Perspectives", presents a terrifically thorough and objective historical account of the origins of the dendrimer field. It is certainly refreshing to see the authors trace the origins of their own early ideas in the field with an effort to accurately apportion credit to others. Likewise, the relationship between dendrimers and fractal geometry is nicely presented.

The third chapter is devoted to the difficult issue of nomenclature. As noted by the authors, the Chemical Abstracts and IUPAC systems for naming dendrimers are useless in that deriving a structure from a compound name is an exercise nearly as impossible as the reverse process. Newkome has devised a particularly useful and concise nomenclature that provides a more direct connection between name and structure. Many examples are presented that effectively illustrate the use of this method. A second concise nomenclature, the fractal notation devised by Mendenhall, is briefly presented at the end of the chapter. Unfortunately, neither of these nomenclatures is in wide use.

Finding a logical way to organize a topic-ranging from organic synthesis to materials science-with applications ranging from gene therapy to inks and toners-is a tremendous challenge, and there is no way to please everyone. The authors have chosen to focus much of the book on how the dendrimers are synthesized. Thus, Chapters 4 and 5 deal with dendrimers synthesized by divergent and convergent approaches, respectively.

Chapters 6, 7, and 8 focus on the synthesis of hyperbranched polymers, chiral dendrimers, and dendrimers containing metal sites, respectively. A minor criticism is that perfect structural representations are used even though they can be deceptive, as many dendrimers, particularly those synthesized divergently, may contain significant defects. One must, on looking at each structure in this book, consider whether the actual compound is in fact homogeneous. The organization within most of these chapters is determined by the nature of the branch point (multiplicity and composition). This organization facilitates finding a particular type of dendrimer, but it makes it virtually impossible to find a specific application, such as drug delivery.

Applications are dispersed within the synthetic chapters; but the index, which is adequate but not comprehensive, does not always help (e.g., for drug delivery). Fortunately, there is an absolutely wonderful built-in redundancy with Chapter 10, entitled "Utilitarian Aspects", containing citations organized by application. Many practitioners will find themselves frequently consulting this comprehensive list. Rounding out the book is Chapter 11, which details pioneering efforts to use dendrimers as building blocks in the construction of larger structures, phases, aggregates, etc. The final chapter contains a compilation of review articles published up to early 1996.

Written by some of the founders of the field and pioneering researchers, Dendritic Macromolecules: Concepts, Syntheses, Perspectives provides a review of the dendrimer literature up to early 1996 that is comprehensive and well organized. Although some aspects could have been dealt with in more detail, the book largely succeeds in its ambitious goal of reviewing all facets of this exciting new area of chemistry. It is the first book devoted entirely to this novel class of polymers and is definitely an essential book for practitioners of dendrimer chemistry and allied fields.