Glyconanosynthons as powerful scaffolds and building blocks for the rapid construction of multifaceted, dense and chiral dendrimers.

This review represents the first of its kind in that it is mainly devoted to the use of carbohydrates as both scaffolds and building blocks for the construction of a wide range of novel, dense, and chiral dendrimers. It deviates from several previous reviews describing solely carbohydrates as functional surface groups, mostly devoted to biological applications. A brief overview of the most recent synthetic strategies in dendrimer design will be presented for the purpose of comparing their differences, similitudes, and advantages. A particular emphasis will be devoted to the general family of core molecules or scaffolds possessing a large number of functional groups from which, carbohydrates clearly emanate for their wide structural diversities, abundant chiral centers, and the relative ease with which their functional groups can be selectively manipulated. This beneficial characteristic relies on the fact that carbohydrates exist in enantiomeric states, several conformations, anomeric configurations, range of functional groups, and as three to seven carbon units.