Comparison of Linear, Hyperbranched, and Dendritic Macromolecules

A comparison of the physical properties of hyperbranched and dendritic macromolecules with linear polymers and the linear analogs of these 3-dimensional polymers is presented. It is found that thermal properties, such as glass transition temperature and degradation, are the same regardless of the macromolecular architecture but are very sensitive to the number and nature of chain end functional groups. However, other properties, such as solubility, melt viscosity, chemical reactivity, intrinsic viscosity were found to be very dependent on the macromolecular architecture.