Acceleration of an aminolysis reaction using a PAMAM dendrimer with 64 terminal amine groups

When compared to an equivalent amine concentration (N-acetylethylene diamine, 64 equivalents), the initial rate of a simple deacylation reaction in water was found to be greatly enhanced when using a PAMAM dendrimer with 64 terminal amine groups. This increase in initial rate is largely due to the hydrophobic binding of the substrate within the outer region of the dendrimer. As a consequence of this binding, the substrate is held in close proximity to the reactive amine groups on the surface of the dendrimer. It is this increase in effective molarity that results in an increase in the observed initial rate.