Synthesis of star thermoresponsive amphiphilic block copolymer nano-assemblies and the effect of topology on their thermoresponse

Abstract

Well-defined multi-arm star thermoresponsive block copolymer nano-assemblies of [poly(<italic>N</italic>-isopropylacrylamide)-<italic>block</italic>-polystyrene]_n [(PNIPAM-<italic>b</italic>-PS)_n] with <italic>n</italic> = 1, 2, 3 and 4 arms were synthesized by RAFT dispersion polymerization <italic>via</italic> polymerization-induced self-assembly.