Graduation date: 2008Presentation date: 2007-07-16Dendrimers are nanoscale macromolecules that have highly branched, core-shell structures. Higher generation dendrimers have close-packed peripheral functional groups and a hollow interior. The chemistry of the core and the terminal functionalities can be tailored according to the specific application. These structural characteristics provide room for the design of dendrimers to meet a wide set of supra-molecular recognition and hosting tasks. Dendrimers are synthesized in a stepwise manner to higher generations using a number of chemical reactions, so carrying out the synthesis in a conventional reactor is time-consuming. Therefore the dendrimer products are expensive. In this dissertation, the mixing quality of several micromixers was tested experimentally and computationally, which lead to consistent testing result. A continuous-flow microreactor is not only used to produce dendrimers via convergent and divergent syntheses strategies, but also it is an effective tool to study reaction kinetics. In addition, it provides a convenient and effective method to deposit dendrons and dendrimers on solid surfaces. Dendrons and dendrimers could be synthesized using the microreactors within seconds of residence time. Experimental data and fundamental studies were conducted to compare the synthesis of dedrons and dendrimers by utilizing microreactor and conventional batch reactor. Furthermore, the synthesized polyamide dendron was deposited onto functionalized glass surface through the formation of amide bond using a facile coupling procedure via the microreactor. A variety of techniques were applied to characterize the deposition on glass surfaces. Compared with the conventional synthesis method, the microreactor provides a comparable yield, selectivity and a considerably faster synthesis rate.