Chemically Modified Dendrimers

A method of making a dendrimer,

• wherein the dendrimer comprises a plurality of branched repeating units radiating out from a central atom, multifunctional moiety, or cluster of atoms, wherein each repeating unit comprises a terminal moiety, wherein at least about 5% of the terminal moieties include a urea of formula (I)
• wherein
• each of R1 and R2 is independently C1-C6 alkyl, C1-C6 alkenyl, cyclyl, aryl, heterocyclyl, heteroaryl, cyclylalkyl, arylalkyl, heterocyclylalkyl, or heteroarylalkyl;
• any of which are optionally substituted by C1-C6 alkyl, amino, C1-C6 alkylamino, C1-C6 dialkylamino, hydroxy, C1-C6 alkoxy, and wherein either of R1 or R2 independently optionally have a net charge;
• indicates the point of attachment of the terminal moiety of formula (I) to the dendrimer;
• and
• less than about 12% of the terminal moieties are covalently bound to a saccharide moiety,
• wherein the method comprises reacting a dendrimer comprising a plurality of terminal carboxylic acid moieties with a carbodiimide, wherein the carbodiimide is substituted with R1 and R2, thereby making the dendrimer.