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The size and shape of polymeric vesicles have great impact on their physicochemical and biological properties. Polymerization-induced self-assembly (PISA) is an efficient method to fabricate vesicles. In most PISA-cases, the formation of vesicles is driven by the solvophobic interactions which are lack of versatility on finely structural regulation. Herein, controlling vesicular size and shape is realized in PISA aided by aromatic interactions. Aromatic interactions between the membrane-forming blocks contribute to the augments of membrane tension which lead to the formation of smaller vesicles (as small as 70 nm), but overly enhanced aromatic interactions result in vesicle fusion rather than size decreasing. When the membrane tension is dominated by aromatic interactions and meanwhile high enough to overcome the energetic barriers of fusion, the aromatic interactions drive vesicle fusion in a directional manner to form tubular structures. The precise regulation of vesicular size and shape in PISA would pave the way to fabricate vesicles for a series of size/shape-dependent applications.

This work presents a facile method to prepare Au–polymer hybrid microgels through thermo-induced self-crosslinking and in situ reduction of a gold precursor. Self-assembly of poly(2-dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate-co-3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl methacrylate) (P(DMAEMA-co-TMSPMA)) produced particles by heating the P(DMAEMA-co-TMSPMA) solution above the lower critical solution temperature (LCST), which were subsequently cross-linked via the hydrolysis and condensation of the methoxysilyl groups to form microgels. The polymer microgels can be used as a reducing agent for in situ reduction of a gold precursor and a stabilizing agent of gold nanoparticles, leading to the formation of Au–polymer hybrid microgels. The size of the Au–polymer hybrid microgels can be adjusted by varying the concentration of the polymer solution. Furthermore, Au–polymer hybrid microgels were used as a catalyst for the reduction of 4-nitrophenol, which exhibited catalytic performance and reusability towards the reaction.

Multi-compartmental cylindrical microstructures with lots of nanotubes on their surface, whose shape resembles a sea cucumber, have been fabricated for the first time. This hierarchical morphology is formed through transitions of vesicles to large compound vesicles, to sea cucumber-like hierarchical microstructures. Along with the morphology transitions, aggregation of the residual polymer chains in the solution occurs, which is called multi-step self-assembling. The driving force of the phase transitions and the multistep self-assembling is polymerization because with the progress of the polymerization, the chain length ratio of PS to P4VP increases, which induces self-assembling and morphology transitions. The requisite for multi-step self-assembling is a high concentration of the P4VP-PS chains remaining in the solution after formation of the nascent assemblies. The concentration of the residual block chains can be controlled by varying the recipe and content of the ethanol. Thus, this study provides a unique strategy to fabricate useful hierarchical assemblies.

We investigated the effects of molecular weight and film thickness on the crystallization and microphase separation in semicrystalline block copolymer polystyrene-block-poly(L-lactic acid) (PS-b-PLLA) thin films, at the early stage of film evolution (when Tg < T < TODT) by in situ hot stage atomic force microscopy. For PS-b-PLLA 1 copolymer which had lower molecular weight and higher PLLA fraction, diffusion-controlled break-out crystallization started easily. For PS-b-PLLA 2 with higher molecular weight, crystallization in nanometer scales occurs in local area. After melting of the two copolymer films, islands were observed at the film surface: PS-b-PLLA 1 film was in a disordered phase mixed state while PS-b-PLLA 2 film formed phase-separated lamellar structure paralleling to the substrate. Crystallization-melting and van der Waals forces drove the island formation in PS-b-PLLA 1 film. Film thickness affected the crystallization rate. Crystals grew very slowly in much thinner film of PS-b-PLLA 1 and remained almost unchanged at long time annealing. The incompatibility between PS and PLLA blocks drove the film fluctuation which subsequently evolved into spinodal-like morphology.

Hyperbranched poly(amido amine)s containing vinyl and hydroxyl groups were successfully synthesized via Michael addition polymerization of triacrylamide (TT) and 3-amino-1,2-propanediol (APD) with equal molar ratio in feed. 1H, 13C and HSQC NMR techniques were used to clarify the structure of hyperbranched polymers and polymerization mechanism. The Michael addition reaction of hyperbranched poly(1TT-1APD)s with primary amine-terminated poly(e-benzyloxycarbonyl- l -lysine)s [PLys(Z)] yielded a star-like hyperbranched polymers with poly(1TT-1APD) core and Plys(Z) shell. The Z groups in PLys(Z) were removed under acidolysis, and thus star-like hyperbranched polymers with hydroxyl groups inside and primary amine groups outside were obtained successfully.

Reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) functionalities were anchored to the exterior surface of mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) without changing the mesoporous structure, RAFT polymerization of styrene was subsequently conducted to graft polystyrene (PSt) onto the exterior surface of MSNs, forming a novel core–shell nanostructure with a mesoporous core and a polymer nanoshell. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) were used to characterize the produced mesoporous core–shell nanostructure, the results showed that the thickness of the nanoshell increased with the increasing time of polymerization.

Functionalized star polymers with tetraaniline on their surface have been successfully prepared by substitution reaction of N -succinimidyl-terminated star polymers with tetraaniline. A novel functional RAFT agent bearing N -succinimidyl group was used in the RAFT polymerization of styrene, and N -succinimidyl groups-terminated polystyrenes with narrow molecular weight distribution were obtained. The star polymers with reactive N -succinimidyl groups on their surface were synthesized via RAFT polymerization of DVB. Polymerization mechanism study by gel permeation chromatography displayed that complete disappearance of linear polymers in the products is difficult. The N -succinimidyl-terminated PSt, polymer stars with surface N -succinimidyl groups and the PSt- b -tetraaniline stars were characterized by 1 H NMR spectroscopy, FT-IR and GPC.

The triblock copolymers, poly(styrene- b -isoprene- b - e -caprolactone)s (PS- b -PI- b -PCL) have been synthesized successfully by combination of anionic polymerization and ring-opening polymerization. Diblock copolymer capped with hydroxyl group, PS- b -PI-OH was synthesized by sequential anionic polymerization of styrene and isoprene and following end-capping reaction of EO, and then it was used as macro initiator in the ring-opening polymerization of CL. The results of DSC and WAXD show big effect of amorphous PS- b -PI on the thermal behaviors of PCL block in the triblock copolymers and the lower degree of crystalline in the triblock copolymer with higher molecular weight of PS- b -PI was observed. The real-time observation on the polarized optical microscopy shows the spherulite growth rates of PCL 27 , PCL 328 and PS- b -PI- b -PCL 344 are 0.71, 0.46 and 0.07 μm s −1 , respectively. The atomic force microscopy (AFM) images of the PS 90 - b -PI 66 - b -PCL 28 show the columns morphology formed by it’s self-assembling.

Dendrimer-like copolymers with two and three generations, (polystyrene)3-b-(poly( l -lactide))6 (PSt3-b-PLLA6) and PSt3-b-PLLA6-b-PSt12 have been successfully prepared using core-first method. The first step of this synthesis is the preparation of three-armed PSt by atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) of St using 1,1,1-tri(methylene-α-bromoisobutyryl)propane as initiator. Terminal divergence of the polymers obtained was achieved by the reaction of terminal bromines with branching agent, 2,2-dimethyl-1,3-dioxolane-4-methanol. After deprotection, the polymer with six terminal hydroxyl groups was used in the ring-opening polymerization of LLA. The dendrimer-like copolymer with PLLA as a second generation diverged continuously by the reaction of 6 terminal hydroxyl groups with branching agent, 2,2-bis(methylene-α-bromoisobutyryl)propionyl chloride. The resultant polymer with 12 terminal bromines was used as macroinitiator in the ATRP of St to produce the target dendrimer-like copolymer, PSt3-b-PLLA6-b-PSt12. The structures of polymers obtained from each step were confirmed by their 1H NMR spectra and GPC measurements. DSC results show one T g PS = 102 ° C for the three-armed PSt, T g PLLA = 53 ° C , T c PLLA = 123 ° C and T m PLLA = 159 ° C for the dendrimer-like copolymer with two generations, C(PSt(PLLA)2)3, and T g PLLA = 53 ° C , T c PLLA = 114 ° C and T m PLLA = 166 ° C for the copolymer with three generations, C(PSt(PLLA(PSt)2)2)3.

Two dendritic reversible addition–fragmentation transfer (RAFT) agents with 8 and 16 terminal dithiobenzoate (DTB) groups on the surface of poly(propylene imine) (PPI) dendrimers (generation 2.0 and 3.0, respectively) were successively prepared, and they were used in the RAFT polymerization of N -isopropylacrylamide (NIPAAM). The polymerization kinetics was confirmed to pseudo-first-order behavior. The 1 H NMR and GPC analyses show that the dendrimer-star den (NIPAAM) x ( x = 8 or 16) prepared by RAFT method has well-defined structure, controlled molecular weight and low polydispersities (PDI

The amphiphilic π-shaped copolymers with narrow molecular weight distribution ( M w / M n = 1.04–1.09) based on polystyrene (PSt) and poly(ethylene glycol) have been synthesized successfully. The reversible addition-fragmentation transfer (RAFT) polymerization of St in the presence of dibenzyl trithiocarbonate and N , N ′-azobis(isobutyronitrile) (AIBN) yielded macro RAFT agent PSt–SC( S)S–PSt, subsequent reaction with excess maleic anhydride (MAh) at 80 °C in tetrahydrofuran afforded the PSt–MAh–SC( S)S–MAh–PSt. It was used as RAFT agent in the RAFT polymerization of St, and finally the amphiphilic π-shaped copolymers were obtained by the reaction of MAh with hydroxyl-terminated poly(ethylene glycol methyl ether) at 90 °C for 48 h. Their structures were confirmed by FT-IR and 1 H NMR spectra, and their molecular weight and molecular weight distribution were measured by gel permeation chromatography.

The polymerizations of methyl acrylate have been studied under thermal condition using benzyl 9 H -carbazole-9-carbodithioate (BCCDT) as control agent. The obtained polymers were characterized by gel permeation chromatography (GPC), 1 H nuclear magnetic resonance ( 1 H NMR) and MALDI-TOF mass spectra. The results at 60 °C show that the molecular weight of the polymer increases linearly with monomer conversion, the molecular weight distribution is fairly narrow (even inferior to 1.10), and there exists a linear relationship between ln ([ M ] 0 /[ M ]) and polymerization time. It is worthy of being noticed that the narrow polydispersities are comparable with those from living anionic polymerization. All of the evidences indicate that the polymerization is a good ‘living’ process. When the experiment is carried out at higher temperature, the polymerization rate is markedly faster with controlled polymerization characters except for a relatively broader polydispersity. The good control for free radical polymerization may be correlated with the large conjugation structure of carbazyl of BCCDT.

Poly(ethylene oxide) methyl ether/polystyrene/poly( l -lactide) (MPEO/PSt/PLLA) ABC miktoarm star copolymers were synthesized by combination of reversible addition–fragmentation transfer (RAFT) polymerization and ring-opening polymerization (ROP) using bifunctional macro-transfer agent, MPEO with two terminal dithiobenzoate and hydroxyl groups. It was prepared by reaction of MPEO with maleic anhydride (MAh), subsequently reacted with dithiobenzoic acid and ethylene oxide. RAFT polymerization of St at 110 °C yielded block copolymer, MPEO-b-PSt [(MPEO)(PSt)CH2OH], and then it was used to initiate the polymerization of l -lactide in the presence of Sn(OCt)2 at 115 °C to produce ABC miktoarm star polymers, s-[(MPEO)(PSt)(PLLA)]. The structures of products obtained at each synthetic step were confirmed by NMR and gel permeation chromatography data.

Introducing isocyanate (NCO) groups onto the surface of expanded graphite (EG) was achieved by treatment of the EG with excess toluene-2,4-diisocyanate in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). The reaction of NCO group on the EG with the hydroxyl group in the poly(ethylene oxide) methyl ether (MPEO) to yield MPEO-grafted EG was carried out for modifying the surface properties of graphite. The influence factors, such as reaction time, temperature and the ratio of the reactants, on the grafting reaction and grafting ratio were investigated.

The complex microstructures assembled by amphiphilic diblock copolymer in dilute solution have been investigated by the application of real-space self-consistent field theory in two-dimensional space. Different micelles, such as spherelike micelles, rodlike micelles, and vesicles are produced. The simulations show that vesicles are metastable in dilute solution within a certain range of some parameters. The mechanism for the formation of micromorphologies, especial vesicles, is discussed.

Poly(4-vinylpyridine) (P4VP) and block copolymer, poly(4-vinylpyridine–b-styrene) (P4VP-b-PSt) were prepared by atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) using 1-phenylethyl chloride as initiator, CuCl and 5,5,7,12,12,14–hexamethyl-1,4,8,11-tetraazamacrocyclotetradecane (Me6[14]aneN4) as catalyst and ligand. The polymerization of 4VP was carried out in 2-propanol at 40 °C. GPC and NMR studies show that the plot of ln([4VP]0/[4VP]) against the reaction time is linear, and the molecular weight of the resulting P4VP increased linearly with the conversion. Within 3 h, the conversion can reach almost 90%. P4VP-b-PSt amphiphilic block copolymer with low polydispersity index (Mw/Mn ≈ 1.2) is also obtained by ATRP of St in DMF at 110 °C using P4VP–Cl as macroinitiator, CuCl/ Me6[14]aneN4 as catalyst.

It is the first report on the atom transfer radical ring-opening copolymerizations of unsaturated cyclic acetal: 4,7-dimethyl-2-methylene-1,3-dioxepane (DMMDO) with conventional vinyl monomers, styrene (St), acrylonitrile (AN) and methyl acrylate (MA) in the presence of ethyl α-bromobutyrate as initiator and CuBr/2,2′-bipyridyl as catalyst/ligand at 110 °C. 1H, 13C NMR and IR data show that the copolymerizations of DMMDO with St (or AN or MA) yield the copolymers, poly(DMMDO-co-St) [or poly(DMMDO-co-AN) or poly(DMMDO-co-MA)] with narrow molecular weight distribution, and low content of DMMDO in the copolymers for electron-donor St, higher contents of DMMDO for electron-acceptor AN or MA are observed.

Polystyrene-block-poly(5,6-benzo-2-methylene-1,3-dioxepane) (PSt-b-PBMDO), poly(methyl methacrylate)-block-PBMDO (PMMA-b-PBMDO) and poly(methyl acrylate)-block-PBMDO (PMA-b-PBMDO) were synthesized by two-step atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) of conventional vinyl monomers, then BMDO. First, the polymerization of St, or MMA, or MA was realized by ATRP with ethyl α-bromobutyrate (EBrB) as initiator in conjunction with CuBr and 2,2′-bipyridine (bpy). After isolation, polymers with terminal bromine, PSt-Br, PMMA-Br and PMA-Br, were obtained. Second, the ATRP of BMDO was performed by using macroinitiator, PSt-Br (or PMMA-Br, PMA-Br) in the presence of CuBr/bpy. The structures of block copolymers were characterized by 1 H NMR spectra. Molecular weight and polydispersity index were determined on gel permeation chromatograph. Among the block copolymers obtained, PMA-b-PBMDO shows the most narrow molecular weight distribution.

The copolymerization of styrene (St) with maleic anhydride (MAh) performed at 22 °C in the presence of dibenzyl trithiocarbonate exhibits controlled nature evidenced by: narrow molecular weight distribution, controlled molecular weight and first-order polymerization kinetics. The composition analysis of the copolymers obtained by 13 C NMR spectra shows the molar fraction of St in obtained copolymers is almost equal to 0.5 throughout the copolymerization. The sequence structure of the copolymer was obtained from DEPT experiments by recording the spectra at π/4 and 3π/4, and then combining them together, the results showed that the copolymers obtained possessed well-defined alternating structure. The experiment shows that charge-transfer-complex formed from St and MAh participates in both initiation and chain growth throughout the copolymerization.

By using free-radical RAFT living polymerization, we successfully grafted linear poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) chains onto a spherical PNIPAM/HEA copolymer microgel to form a novel core−shell nanostructure. Both the tethered PNIPAM shell and the copolymer microgel core shrunk as the temperature increased, but in different temperature ranges. In the range ∼28−32 °C, the tethered PNIPAM chains underwent a coil-to-globule transition, while in the range ∼32−35 °C, the shrinking of the copolymer core induced a re-stretching of the collapsed PNIAPM chains on its surface to form a polymer brush in poor solvent. Our results showed that in the re-stretching process, the average hydrodynamic volume per tethered PNIPAM chain remained a constant, confirming a prediction made a long time ago that the collapsed chains in poor solvent were incompressible.

Controlled/“Living” Radical Ring-Opening Polymerization of 5,6-Benzo-2-Methylene-1,3-Dioxepane Based on Reversible Addition-Fragmentation Chain Transfer Mechanism

A two-stage gas-coupled Stirling-type pulse tube cryocooler (SPTC) driven by a linear dual-opposed compressor has been designed, manufactured and tested. Both of the stages adopted coaxial structure for compactness. The effect of a cold double-inlet at the second stage on the cooling performance was investigated. The test results show that the cold double-inlet will help to achieve a lower cooling temperature, but it is not conducive to achieving a higher cooling capacity. At present, without the cold double-inlet, the second stage has achieved a no-load temperature of 11.28 K and a cooling capacity of 620 mW/20 K with an input electric power of 450 W. With the cold double-inlet, the no-load temperature is lowered to 9.4 K, but the cooling capacity is reduced to 400 mW/20 K. The structure of the developed cryocooler and the influences of charge pressure, operating frequency and hot end temperature will also be introduced in this paper.

Poly(styrene-co-acrylic acid)metal (P(St-co-AA)metal) particles were prepared by chemical metal deposition. Characterization was carried out by transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. Dielectric behavior and determination of magnetic properties of P(St-co-AA)metal microspheres were investigated. Thermogravimetric analysis showed that the Curie temperature (TC) of P(St-co-AA)metal was lower than the TC of the corresponding block metal and fine metal particles. The susceptibility and hysteresis loop of P(St-co-AA)metal were studied. The results showed that the composite particles are soft magnetic materials.

Poly(styrene-co-acrylonitrile) (P(St-co-AN)) microspheres were prepared by emulsifier-free emulsion copolymerization of styrene and acrylonitrile. Presence of cyano groups on the surface of these microspheres was confirmed by X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopic analysis. By the method of chemical metal deposition, nickel particles were formed and deposited on the surface of microspheres to form polymer metal composite microspheres which showed magnetic properties. Transmission electron microscope observation showed that nickel particles of small size (15–50 nm) were attached and distributed over the surface of P(St-co-AN) microspheres. X-ray diffraction proved that the nickel particles were in zerovalent state.

Styrene underwent the ATRP process using an asymmetric difunctional initiator, 2-hydroxylethyl 2′-bromobutyrate in combination with CuBr and 2,2′-bipyridine (bpy). Polystyrene with hydroxyl and bromine groups at each end of the polymer (HO-PSt-Br) was obtained, and used as a chain-transfer agent in the cationic ring-opening polymerization of 1,3-dioxepane with triflic acid as initiator. The structures of the polymerization products were analyzed by 1H NMR and GPC analyses, indicating the formation of block copolymer. The molecular weight distribution of the block copolymer was relatively narrow and the molecular weight of the polyDOP block was high. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci A: Polym Chem 38: 436–443, 2000

The prepolymers were prepared by the reaction of 3,9-dihydroxyethyl-3′,9′-dibenzyltetraoxaspiro(5,5)undecane (2) with 4,4′-diphenylenemethane diisocyanate (MDI) or hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI) for improving the properties of the epoxy resin. The volume changes of the curing system was measured. The effects of the prepolymers on the conversion of epoxy group and thermal stability of the epoxy resin were studied. Glass transition temperature (Tg) of the modified matrix slightly decreased as the content of the prepolymers in the resin system increased. Two peaks appeared on derivative thermal gravimetry (DTG) curves of the modified epoxy resin. The one at the lower temperature was due to the decomposition of the polymeric linkages produced from the prepolymers, the other belonged to the decomposition of epoxy resin. The thermal stability of the modified matrix decreased because of the prepolymers as modifiers. However, the residual carbon of the modified matrix had an increasing tendency with quantity of prepolymer added. The strength of the modified matrix slightly decreased, but the elongation increased. When the mixture of E-51, prepolymers and BF3-H2NEt were used as adhesives, the tensile strength and shear strength were improved. The factors influencing the adhesive strength were investigated

New oxocarbenium perchlorates, [(C2H5)(4-n)C(CH2OCH2CH2CO+ClO)n, n = 3, 4] were synthesized and used in the preparation of poly (tetrahydrofuran) (PTHF) polyols. The structures of PTHF polyols and corresponding hydrolysis products were determined by 1H-NMR and FTIR. GPC curves showed that the amount of cyclic oligomers was negligible. The polymerization process was followed by gas chromatography. Kinetic studies showed no termination reaction. The mechanism of the polymerization was discussed. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci A: Polym Chem 37: 3391–3399, 1999

Three-armed star-shaped poly(ester amine) was synthesized by Michael addition polymerizations of equal molar ratio of ethylene glycol diacrylate (EGDA) and piperazine (PZ) in the presence of a small amount of multifunctional monomer, 1,3,5-triacryloylhexa-hydro-1,3,5-triazine (TT) in CHCl3. When the polymerization proceeded almost completely, the molecular weight of the polymers formed were determined by the feed molar ratio of difunctional monomer to multifunctional monomer, and the molecular weight distribution (Mw/Mn) approached the theoretical value (Mw/Mn =1+1/f). The mechanism of the polymerization was investigated by 1H NMR and Gel permeation chromatography (GPC). The monomer concentration and the molar ratio of difunctional monomers/multifunctional monomer played an important role in the polymerization.

Linear poly(ethylenimine)-graft-poly(ethylene glycol)s (LPEI-g-PEG) with various degrees of grafting and molecular weights were synthesized by Michael addition reaction of LPEI with methoxy poly(ethylene glycol) acrylate. The graft copolymers display pH-sensitive behaviors, and pH variation of the copolymer solution induced the aggregation of graft copolymers, forming the micelles with different sizes. The dynamic light scattering method was used to study the effects of ionic strength, chain composition and pH on hydrodynamic radius. With solvent evaporation of the micelles solution, various morphologies were formed.

Liang Qiu, Chun-Yan Hong, Cai-Yuan Pan Chinese Academy of Sciences Key Laboratory of Soft Matter Chemistry, Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, People’s Republic of China Abstract: Redox- and pH-sensitive branched star polymers (BSPs), BP(DMAEMA-co-MAEBA-co-DTDMA)(PMAIGP)ns, have been successively prepared by two steps of reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization. The first step is RAFT polymerization of 2-(N,N-dimethylaminoethyl)methacrylate (DMAEMA) and p-(methacryloxyethoxy)benzaldehyde (MAEBA) in the presence of divinyl monomer, 2,2'-dithiodiethoxyl dimethacrylate (DTDMA). The resultant branched polymers were used as a macro-RAFT agent in the subsequent RAFT polymerization. After hydrolysis of the BSPs to form BP(DMAEMA-co-MAEBA-co-DTDMA)(PMAGP)ns (BSP-H), the anticancer drug doxorubicin (DOX) was covalently linked to branched polymer chains by reaction of primary amine of DOX and aldehyde groups in the polymer chains. Their compositions, structures, molecular weights, and molecular weight distributions were respectively characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance spectra and gel permeation chromatography measurements. The DOX-loaded micelles were fabricated by self-assembly of DOX-containing BSPs in water, which were characterized by transmission electron microscopy and dynamic light scattering. Aromatic imine linkage is stable in neutral water, but is acid-labile; controlled release of DOX from the BSP-H-DOX micelles was realized at pH values of 5 and 6, and at higher acidic solution, fast release of DOX was observed. In vitro cytotoxicity experiment results revealed low cytotoxicity of the BSPs and release of DOX from micelles in HepG2 and HeLa cells. Confocal laser fluorescence microscopy observations showed that DOX-loaded micelles have specific interaction with HepG2 cells. Thus, this type of BSP micelle is an efficient drug delivery system. Keywords: RAFT polymerization, controlled release, doxorubicin, branched star polymer, pH-sensitive

This study proposes a unified method for a wide variety of image composition tasks. The proposed method is developed by constraining the responses of a set of filters to a target image. Each filter describes an attribute of the target image. Also, each attribute field is assumed to be equal to the corresponding attribute field of an input source. The constraints imposed by all those attributes are weighted heterogeneously and formulated into a minimisation problem. For different tasks, the required attributes (e.g. gradient, texture and colour constraints) can be specified by different sources (e.g. from a given image, constructed from several images or specified by users). The framework is flexible and can be configured to meet a variety of image editing tasks. To validate the effectiveness of this method, a variety of applications have been presented, including face data illumination removal, remote-sensing images fusion, texture transfer, multi-focus image fusion, seamless texture tiling and text layer transfer. The experimental results illustrate that the proposed method is effective in performance for the presented image editing tasks with comparisons to classical methods for the specified tasks.