Scientific progress is like a relay race where each new advancement builds on the work of others. Over the years, many discoveries and technologies have made significant strides forward in our journey of understanding. Some of this work is recognized each year with the announcement of the Nobel Prizes in Chemistry, Physics, and Medicine. Though it is impossible to recognize every critical, deserving innovator and idea, the CAS Science Team has identified a number of discoveries with the potential to provide extensive benefits to the scientific community and the broader world. Could one of them be the next Nobel winner?

Traditionally, many key benefits of a drug or pharmaceutical cannot be realized because of their poor solubility, high toxicity, or stability problems. However, the use of dendrimers as drug delivery vehicles can solve many of these problems.

Dendrimers are branched polymers starting from a core followed by repeating branching points. Their adjustable size, interactions with cell membranes, and stable characteristics of their internal structure are ideal for delivering active pharmaceuticals. The synthesis of dendrimers is challenging and not cost-efficient, but their various application potentials still drive this field of research forward.

Dr. Didier Astruc established systematic synthesis of dendrimers, followed by the functionalization from transition metal nanoparticles like gold nanoparticles. This research solved the obstacles from the dendrimer synthesis and created sustainability of dendrimer-based catalytic chemistry based on the low catalyst loading amount and high catalytic efficiency. Upon this research, sustainable catalysis using metal nanoparticles-embedded dendrimers can be achieved, relieve our energy consumption, and increase the sustainability for the next generation.

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Photo credits: © Nobel Prize Outreach. Photo: Nanaka Adachi NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2023. Wed. 13 Sep 2023.

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