Fig. 1

Polymer synthesis, spectroscopic properties and self-assembly. a Synthesis of the perylene-bearing diblock terpolymer PEG₄₃-b-P(NIPAM₂₁-co-PDMI₉). b Normalized absorption (solid lines) and fluorescence spectra (dashed lines) of the amine-reactive perylene derivative PDMI-PFP (red) and PEG₄₃-b-P(NIPAM₂₁-co-PDMI₉) (blue) in THF. c TEM image of spherical aggregates formed by PEG₄₃-b-P(NIPAM₂₁-co-PDMI₉) in a dilute THF solution (0.1 mg mL⁻¹). Scale bar, 100 nm. d Schematic representation depicting the solvent-switch method used to induce self-assembly of PEG₄₃-b-P(NIPAM₂₁-co-PDMI₉). e Schematic representations, average major axis lengths, aspect ratios, and TEM images of resulting self-assembled structures formed at different THF content. f Normalized absorption spectra of all five polymersomes in water