Recent Advances in Diblock and Gradient Copolymers Self-Assembly in Solutions and at the Interfaces

Block copolymers have been known for more than a half-century. In contrast to their statistical counterparts, such macromolecules can form aggregates of various, well-defined shapes in solutions and at the interfaces. Meanwhile, due to a significant progress in polymer synthesis, gradient copolymers are gaining more and more interest as a potentially cheaper alternative to the simplest case of block structures – the diblock copolymers. Because of relative novelty of such macromolecules, the new properties of respective polymer systems are being continuously discovered. This review highlights the recent advances in the study of gradient and diblock copolymer assemblies in solution and at various interfaces and provides by a direct comparison of properties of the latter and the former.