Multicompartmented micelle formation

Fig. 8 Multicompartment micelle formation from p-EOF star terpolymers and binary blends of p-EOF/EO. (a) Hamburger micelle from p-EOF with a very long PEO block, (b) Segmented wormlike micelle from p-EOF with a short PEO block, (c) Hamburger micelle from blends of p-EOF/EO. Reprinted with permission from Hillmyer et al. [79]. Copyright 2006 American...

Figure 20 A triblock copolymer (a) with two outer hydrophilic blocks that can self-assemble into mixed micelles (b), partly demixed or multicompartment micelles (c), or completely demixed, biphasic Janus micelles (d). The amphiphilicity on triggering the hydrophilic to hydrophobic transition may result in superstructure formation. (Reproduced from Ref. 49. American Chemical Society, 2010.)...

Staying in the framework of multicompartment micelles, one should note that the formation of this nanostructure can be also achieved by a mixture of two block copolymers. Zhang and coworkers have described the case of a thermoresponsive multicompartment micelle composed of two block copolymers, namely poly[N-(4-vinylbenzyl)-N,N-diethylamine)]-b-polystyrene (PVEA-b-PS) and poly[2-(dimethylamino) ethyl methacrylate]-b-polystyrene (PDMAEMA-b-PS) [22], A mixture of these copolymers, in a polar solvent, forms micelles where the PS core is decorated with PVEA nodules (Fig. 2.7). Depending on the solvent, the multicompartment nanostmcture can be either precipitated at elevated temperature, when water is used as solvent, or to be reformed into a regular micelle with PS core and mixed PVEA/PDMAEMA corona, when the solvent is methanol, just as it was described in the case of the pH-responsive terpolymer [19]. 

Figure 9 Nanostructured multicompartment cylinders, (a and b) Bright-field TEM images. Dark regions represent polypentafluorostyrene-chain-rich areas, (c and d) High-angle annular dark-field images of cylindrical micelles with internal phase-separated cores, (e) Cryogenic TEM image of uniform cylindrical micelles at 40% water/THF solution, (f) Cryogenic TEM image of cylindrical micelles with internal phase-separated cores at 67% water/THE solution. Chemical structures and schematic illustration of the formation of multicompartment cylinders (bottom). Reproduced with permission from...

---