Scalable and Uniform Length-Tunable Biodegradable Block Copolymer Nanofibers with a Polycarbonate Core via Living Polymerization-Induced Crystallization-Driven Self-assembly

Uniform 1D block copolymer (BCP) nanofibers prepared by the seeded-growth approach termed living crystallization-driven self-assembly (CDSA) offer promising potential for various applications due to their anisotropy, length tunability, and variable core and coronal chemistries. However, this procedure consists of a multi-step process involving independent BCP synthesis and self-assembly steps, where the latter is performed at low solution concentrations (<1 wt %), hindering scale-up. Here, we demonstrate the use of a one-pot BCP synthesis and self-assembly process, polymerization-induced CDSA (PI-CDSA), to access length-disperse nanofibers with a biodegradable crystalline poly(fluorenetrimethylenecarbonate) (PFTMC) core and a hydrophilic poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) corona derived from PEG-b-PFTMC at concentrations up to 20 wt %, 400 times higher than those previously reported. Furthermore, living PI-CDSA could be used to access scalable, low dispersity, and length-tunable 1D PEG-b-PFTMC nanofibers at concentrations of up to 10 wt %. This provides the first example of living PI-CDSA involving an all-organic and biodegradable BCP that utilizes a conveniently implemented BCP synthesis protocol and does not involve living anionic polymerization. Significantly, samples of low-dispersity nanofibers of controlled lengths from 100 to 660 nm (Lw/Ln = 1.08–1.20) were prepared, allowing for upscaled access to well-defined biodegradable nanofibers at useful length-scales for applications in nanomedicine. Interestingly, detailed studies revealed a key role for PFTMC homopolymer impurities in the BCP prepared in situ in the formation of nanofibers under the reaction conditions used.