Covalently constructed multicompartment polymer nanoparticles via architecture-controlled polymerization

Abstract Multicompartment polymer nanoparticles, such as two-faced Janus and patchy particles composed of distinct chemical features, have received increasing attention because of their utility for interfacial and self-assembly applications originating from the asymmetric particulate structure. This review discusses such nanoparticles in several tens of nanometers produced by controlled polymerizations, which enable scalable synthesis with control of molecular characteristics. We focus on miktoarm core cross-linked star polymers and Janus core–shell bottlebrush polymers as 0D and 1D anisotropic nano-objects containing a discrete core and a compartmentalized shell. We discuss how controlled polymerizations can covalently build such complex architectures with spatial control of the constituting segments to achieve intramolecular segregation. Then, we collectively view their distinct interfacial and self-assembling behaviors reported in the literature from experimental and simulation perspectives. Graphic abstract In this review, we discuss synthetic approaches to compartmentalized core cross-linked star and bottlebrush copolymers composed of chemically distinct segments and their self-assembly/interfacial behavior as Janus and patchy soft nanoparticles with spherical and elongated geometries.