Polymerization of and within self-organized media

Self-organized surfactant solutions, such as microemulsions, vesicular solutions or dispersions, or lyotropic mesophases can serve as templates for the structure directed synthesis of organic polymers. Recent developments of templating within these equilibrium nanostructured fluids are reviewed. Depending on the template structure and the reaction conditions, the outcomes may be polyampholytes, amphiphiles, nanoparticles, hollow spheres, or mesoporous polymers. For each structure and morphology, the final product materials reflect a delicate balance between phase behavior and the reaction and mass transfer parameters that set structure. Experimental and theoretical aspects of reaction kinetics and thermodynamics such as monomer partitioning, swelling behavior and polymerization-induced phase separation are discussed. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.