Investigating the Molecular Architecture of Hyperbranched Polymers

Hyperbranched polymers constitute a unique class of branched macromolecules, where structural complexity is complemented by relative ease of synthesis. The increasing interest in the study of these materials is due to their distinctive properties, inherently tied to their complex molecular architecture, and is augmented by the continual growth of applications like catalysis, viscosity modifiers, and sensors. We report a structural model for HBPs based on fractal scaling of bothmass and connectivity. This model is shown to be of use in understanding small angle scattering data, especially in comparison with nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy for structural characterization.