Issue 36, 2020

Recent advances in supramolecular block copolymers for biomedical applications

Abstract

Supramolecular block copolymers (SBCs) have received considerable interest in polymer chemistry, materials science, biomedical engineering and nanotechnology owing to their unique structural and functional advantages, such as low cytotoxicity, outstanding biodegradability, smart environmental responsiveness, and so forth. SBCs comprise two or more different homopolymer subunits linked by noncovalent bonds, and these polymers, in particular, combine the dynamically reversible nature of supramolecular polymers with the hierarchical microphase-separated structures of block polymers. A rapidly increasing number of publications on the synthesis and applications of SBCs have been reported in recent years; however, a systematic summary of the design, synthesis, properties and applications of SBCs has not been published. To this end, this review provides a brief overview of the recent advances in SBCs and describes the synthesis strategies, properties and functions, and their widespread applications in drug delivery, gene delivery, protein delivery, bioimaging and so on. In this review, we aim to elucidate the general concepts and structure–property relationships of SBCs, as well as their practical bioapplications, shedding further valuable insights into this emerging research field.

Graphical abstract: Recent advances in supramolecular block copolymers for biomedical applications

Article information

Article type
Review Article
Submitted
14 Jūn. 2020
Accepted
04 Aug. 2020
First published
04 Aug. 2020

J. Mater. Chem. B, 2020,8, 8219-8231

Recent advances in supramolecular block copolymers for biomedical applications

W. Yasen, R. Dong, A. Aini and X. Zhu, J. Mater. Chem. B, 2020, 8, 8219 DOI: 10.1039/D0TB01492C

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements