Title: CONFORMATIONS AND DYNAMICS OF STARS AND DENDRIMERS: THE GAUSSIAN SELF-CONSISTENT APPROACH
Author(s): F.Ganazzoli (Dipartimento di Chimica, Materiali e Ingegneria Chimica `G. Natta' Politecnico di Milano via L.Mancinelli 7, 20131 Milano, Italy)

Some conformational and dynamical aspects of branched polymer are reviewed. We discuss the theoretical Gaussian Self-Consistent (GSC) approach proposed in our group and used to study the behaviour of regular star polymers and dendrimers in different solvent conditions. Within a single framework, we consider the unperturbed $\Theta$ state, as well as the good-solvent state in comparison with other theoretical or simulation approaches, and with some experimental results. We also briefly report the further results obtained for amphiphilic copolymer stars in selective solvents so as to highlight the potentialities of the method, as well as its strengths and its shortcomings.

Key words: star polymers, dendrimers, statistical mechanics, polymer conformations, polymer dynamics
PACS: 36.20.Ey, 61.25.Hq, 82.35.Jk, 82.35.Lr, 83.80.Rs