Dendrimer-like star-branched polymers recently developed as a new class of hyper-branched polymers, which resemble well-known dendrimers in branched architecture, but comprise polymer chains between junctions, are reviewed in this highlight article. In particular, we focus on the precise synthesis of various dendrimer-like star-branched polymers and block copolymers by the recently developed methodology based on iterative divergent approach using living anionic polymers and 1,1-bis(3-tert-butyldimethylsilyloxy methylphenyl)ethylene. (c) 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.