A series of copolymers containing 50 mol % acrylic acid (AA) and 50 mol % butyl acrylate (BA) but with differing composition profiles ranging from an AA‐BA diblock copolymer to a linear gradient poly(AA‐grad‐BA) copolymer were synthesized and their pH‐responsive self‐assembly behavior was investigated. While assemblies of the AA‐BA diblock copolymer were kinetically frozen, the gradient‐like compositions underwent reversible changes in size and morphology in response to changes in pH. In particular, a diblock copolymer consisting of two random copolymer segments of equal length (16 mol % and 84 mol % AA content, respectively) formed spherical micelles at pH >5, a mix of spherical and wormlike micelles at pH 5 and vesicles at pH 4. These assemblies were characterized by dynamic light scattering, cryo‐transmission electron microscopy and small angle neutron scattering.

Reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) copolymerization was used to prepare copolymers of N-isopropyl acrylamide (NIPAM) and vinyl acetate (VAc) with mole fractions of NIPAM ranging from 0.1 to 0.6 and targeted degrees of polymerization of 100 and 250. The measured kinetic parameters and obtained experimental results revealed that this copolymerization system leads to a “one pot” synthesis of amphiphilic gradient copolymers, which have thermoresponsive and self-assembly characteristics resembling those of the analogous block copolymers but with some intriguing differences. Their self-assembly behavior in water suggests the formation of dynamic aggregates which respond rapidly to changes in solubility as revealed by ¹H NMR spectroscopy, in contrast to the kinetically frozen aggregates formed by block copolymers. Furthermore, despite their block-like composition profiles, these copolymers display a single and broad glass transition, as is typically found in linear gradient copolymers. The synthetic approach presented in this contribution could readily be adapted to other comonomer systems to provide an accessible and economic alternative to the conventional multi-step preparation of block copolymers.

The rise of antibiotic-resistant microorganisms has become a critical issue in recent years and has promoted substantial research efforts directed to the development of more effective antimicrobial therapies utilizing different bactericidal mechanisms to neutralize infectious diseases. Modern approaches employ at least two mixed bioactive agents to enhance bactericidal effects. However, the combinations of drugs may not always show a synergistic effect, and further, could also produce adverse effects or stimulate negative outcomes. Therefore, investigations providing insights into the effective utilization of combinations of biocidal agents are of great interest. Sometimes, combination therapy is needed to avoid resistance development in difficult-to-treat infections or biofilm-associated infections treated with common biocides. Thus, this contribution reviews the literature reports discussing the usage of antimicrobial polymers along with nanomaterials or other inhibitors for the development of more potent biocidal therapies.