Organic nanospheres with an internal bicontinuous structure and their responsive phase inversion.

Nanospheres with an internal bicontinuous structure were obtained through hierarchical self-assembly of a dendritic block terpolymer in selective solvents. The self-assembly underwent a unique three stage process involving unimolecular micelle formation, multimicelle aggregation and microphase separation within a self-confined space. Reversible phase inversion of the nanospheres in response to the solvent environment was observed.