Recent progress in polymerization-induced self-assembly: From the perspective of driving forces

Polymerization-induced self-assembly (PISA) enables the simultaneous growth and self-assembly of block copolymers in one pot and therefore has developed into a high-efficiency platform for the preparation of polymer assemblies with high concentration and excellent reproducibility. During the past decade, the driving force of PISA has extended from hydrophobic interactions to other supramolecular interactions, which has greatly innovated the design of PISA, enlarged the monomer/solvent toolkit, and endowed the polymer assemblies with intrinsic dynamicity and responsiveness. To unravel the important role of driving forces in the formation of polymeric assemblies, this review summarized the recent development of PISA from the perspective of driving forces. Motivated by this goal, here we give a brief overview of the basic principles of PISA and systematically discuss the various driving forces in the PISA system, including hydrophobic interactions, hydrogen bonding, electrostatic interactions, and & pi;-& pi; interactions. Furthermore, PISA systems that are driven and regulated by crystallization or liquid crystalline ordering were also highlighted. image