Four dendrimers (1b-4b) containing chiral vicinal diol-based subunits were prepared from their acetonide-protected precursors (1a-4a). The optical activity of these chiral dendritic structures was successfully modeled using structurally similar, low molecular weight model compounds. Using the [Phi](d) values of the low molecular weight model compounds 5b-7b, we calculated [Phi](d) values for dendrimers 1b-4b that agree to within 4.5% of the observed values. Agreement between the optical activity of the model compounds and that of the dendrimers leads to the conclusion that the conformational equilibria of the dendrimer subunits are not perturbed relative to those of the model compounds.