Supramolecular self-assembly of nonlinear amphiphilic and double hydrophilic block copolymers in aqueous solutions.

Supramolecular self-assembly of block copolymers in aqueous solution has received ever-increasing interest over the past few decades due to diverse biological and technological applications in drug delivery, imaging, sensing and catalysis. In addition to relative block lengths, molecular weights and solution conditions, chain architectures of block copolymers can also dramatically affect their self-assembling properties in selective solvents. This feature article mainly focuses on recent developments in the field of supramolecular self-assembly of amphiphilic and double hydrophilic block copolymers (DHBCs) possessing nonlinear chain topologies, including miktoarm star polymers, dendritic-linear block copolymers, cyclic block copolymers and comb-shaped copolymer brushes.