Facile construction of fluorescent polymeric aggregates with various morphologies by self-assembly of supramolecular amphiphilic graft copolymers

Abstract

Studies on fluorescent polymeric aggregates have resulted in significant advances in fluorescence-based techniques in materials and life sciences. The aggregate morphology has a very important influence on the functions of fluorescent polymeric aggregates, so it is vital to access various morphologies with control. However, it is intricate and time-consuming to construct fluorescent polymeric aggregates with diverse morphologies through conventional methods that require the preparation of a series of polymers with different hydrophobic/hydrophilic volume ratios. Herein, to address this problem, we present a facile supramolecular strategy to construct fluorescent polymeric aggregates with various morphologies based on the self-assembly of supramolecular amphiphilic graft copolymers. It is worth noting that, in this supramolecular strategy, we only need to prepare two building blocks to achieve a diverse set of fluorescent polymeric aggregates.