刺激响应型聚合物是一类功能性聚合物,它在药物控制释放、基因载体、纳米粒子以及纳米反应器等众多领域具有广阔的应用前景,因此引起了越来越多科学工作者的关注。刺激响应型聚合物多为双亲性聚合物,可通过自组装的方式得到形态各异的聚集体,如胶束、囊泡等。在受到某些外界环境刺激时,它们会产生特异性响应,尤其是功能性聚合物嵌段会发生相应的变化,从而引起整个聚合物结构的相转变和体积相转变。根据环境刺激种类的不同,刺激响应型聚合物可以分成不同类型,本文主要介绍了pH、温度、光、分子、电化学和手性等响应型聚合物,并概括了它们的结构特点以及不同的合成方法,简单说明了它们具有刺激响应功能的作用机理,阐述了结构与性能的联系。另外,还介绍了它们的潜在应用,并对此类聚合物的发展前景作了展望。
Stimulus-responsive, or ' smart' , polymers belong to the classes of functional polymers. There is a wide-range application of stimulus-responsive polymers in numerous areas such as drug controlled releasing, gene vectors, nanoparticles, nano-reaetors, and it shows broad prospects. Therefore the smart polymers have attracted more and more interests during the last decade. Most of the stimulus-responsive polymers are amphiphilic polymers which are able to self-assemble to form series patterns of aggregates such as micelles and vesicles. When the aggregates are subjected to some external environmental stimuli, it will produce the corresponding specific response. In particular the functional block responses specifically and as a result the structure phase transition and volume phase transition of the whole functional polymer will emerge. Stimulus-responsive polymers can be classified into several categories, depending upon the type of the external stimulus. Herein, we review some of the most interesting examples of recent advances and progressive application of the responsive polymers based on different stimuli, such as pH, temperature, light, molecular, electro-stimuli and ehirality responsive polymers. The article summarizes the structural characteristics and synthetic methods. The mechanism of their functions and the relationship between the structure and properties are briefly discussed. The potential applications and the long-term prospect of these fields are introduced.