Recent development of unimolecular micelles as functional materials and applications

Unimolecular micelles have attracted increasing attention due to their high functionality, encapsulation and site specific confinement capabilities in various applications. Compared to conventional supramolecular micelles, unimolecular micelles possess unique single molecular architectures which can maintain excellent stability when they are subjected to extreme surrounding environment changes such as high dilution and alterations in temperature, pH, ionic strength etc. In this review, the most recent advances in the design strategies of unimolecular micelles are presented with respect to different types of architectural polymers, including dendrimers, and hyperbranched, dendritic, star, brush-like and amphiphilic cyclic polymers. The diverse functions of these sophisticated materials endow a biosignificance in therapeutic agent delivery. And the use of unimolecular micelles as templates for inorganic nanoparticle preparation, catalysis, and energy harvesting are also summarized in this review. Finally, the challenges for the facile fabrication of unimolecular micelles and future perspectives are also discussed.