Morphology Inversion Induced by Stimuli-responsive Blocks in the AB/BC Block Copolymer Assemblies in Solution

Zi-Xuan Zhang; Hao Tang; Xian-Deng Qiu; Yuan Li; Mao-Zhang Tian; Rong Wang

doi:10.1007/s10118-026-3732-4

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Morphology Inversion Induced by Stimuli-responsive Blocks in the AB/BC Block Copolymer Assemblies in Solution

RESEARCH ARTICLE | Updated：2026-09-23

- Morphology Inversion Induced by Stimuli-responsive Blocks in the AB/BC Block Copolymer Assemblies in Solution
- Morphology Inversion Induced by Stimuli-responsive Blocks in the AB/BC Block Copolymer Assemblies in Solution
- Chinese Journal of Polymer Science 2026年44卷第10期页码：3408-3417
- Affiliations：
  
  a.Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Coordination Chemistry, Key Laboratory of High Performance Polymer Materials and Technology of Ministry of Education, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
  b.PetroChina Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration & Development, Beijing 100083, China
  c.State Key Laboratory of Enhanced Oil and Gas Recovery, Beijing 100083, China
- Author bio：
  
  mztian@petrochina.com.cn (M.Z.T.)
  wangrong@nju.edu.cn (R.W.)
- Funds：
  
  This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 92477118, 52573024 and 22173045) and National Science and Technology Major Project (No. 2025ZD1407303). The numerical calculations have been done on the IBM Blade cluster system in the High Performance Computing Center (HPCC) of Nanjing University.;The authors declare no interest conflict.Electronic supplementary information (ESI), which includes details of the simulation method (Fig. S1 in ESI), morphology phase diagram of the pure AB system as a function of relative chain length and corresponding cluster analysis (Fig. S2 in ESI), morphological phase diagram of the aggregates formed by A4B9 diblock copolymers in terms of the interaction parameters aAB and aBS (Fig. S3 in ESI), snapshots of vesicle formation process via the bilayer membrane closure mechanism in the mixture (PDF); Video S1, the rearrangement process of hydrophilic blocks A and C from a cross-sectional view (AVI), is available free of charge in the online version of this article at https://doi.org/10.1007/s10118-026-3732-4.The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
- DOI：10.1007/s10118-026-3732-4
  中图分类号：
- 收稿：2026-02-28，
  
  录用：2026-04-29，
  
  网络首发：2026-06-26，
  
  纸质出版：2026-10-05
- Accepted：
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Zhang, Z. X.; Tang, H.; Qiu, X. D.; Li, Y.; Tian, M. Z.; Wang, R. Morphology inversion induced by stimuli-responsive blocks in the AB/BC block copolymer assemblies in solution. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. 2026, 44, 3408–3417

Zi-Xuan Zhang, Hao Tang, Xian-Deng Qiu, et al. Morphology Inversion Induced by Stimuli-responsive Blocks in the AB/BC Block Copolymer Assemblies in Solution[J]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2026, 44(10): 3408-3417.
Zhang, Z. X.; Tang, H.; Qiu, X. D.; Li, Y.; Tian, M. Z.; Wang, R. Morphology inversion induced by stimuli-responsive blocks in the AB/BC block copolymer assemblies in solution. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. 2026, 44, 3408–3417 DOI： 10.1007/s10118-026-3732-4.

Zi-Xuan Zhang, Hao Tang, Xian-Deng Qiu, et al. Morphology Inversion Induced by Stimuli-responsive Blocks in the AB/BC Block Copolymer Assemblies in Solution[J]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2026, 44(10): 3408-3417. DOI： 10.1007/s10118-026-3732-4.

摘要

Using DPD simulations

we revealed a kinetic-control mechanism governing the inversion of the dominant internal block in AB/BC co-assemblies under external stimuli. The occurrence and kinetics of inversion are controlled by adjusting key interaction parameters that influence the mobility of the hydrophilic blocks and the barrier effect of the hydrophobic layer.

Abstract

Co-assembly of different block copolymers has emerged

as a versatile strategy for constructing stimuli-responsive polymer nanostructures with broad applications in biomedicine. However

the spatial distribution of functional blocks and the structural transition of mixed assemblies under external stimuli remain insufficiently explored

limiting the rational design of efficient delivery systems with on-demand cargo loading and release. Here

we systematically investigated the self-assembly behaviors of AB/BC mixture in solution using the dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) method. By varying the interaction parameters between different components

several classic morphologies were obtained

including vesicles (V)

multicompartment vesicles (MCV)

and large compound micelles (LCM). Most importantly

the distinct hydrophilic blocks (A/C) underwent microphase separation during the co-assembly process

yielding aggregates with patterns having different internal A/C distributions

such as mixed

Janus (J)

and A- or C-dominated (A/C) vesicles. Upon applying external stimuli

we tracked the dynamic rearrangement process of blocks A and C

focusing on the inversion of the dominant internal block. The results revealed that kinetic factors significantly influence the inversion process

either accelerating

decelerating

or even freezing the structure. A kinetic-control mechanism for the inversion was proposed

wherein the mobility of the hydrophilic blocks and the barrier effect of the hydrophobic layer can be tuned by adjusting the interaction parameters (such as

and

)

thereby governing the occurrence and kinetics of inversion. These findings can provide valuable insights into the precise modulation of block distribution and rearrangement in stimuli-responsive aggregates

offering applications in controlled drug delivery and release processes.

关键词

Keywords

references

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