Ring-opening
polymerization-induced self-assembly (ROPISA) was
achieved by employing hydroxyl-terminated polyisobutylene (PIB-OH),
diphenyl phosphate (DPP), cyclohexane, and ε-caprolactone (ε-CL)
and/or δ-valerolactone (δ-VL) as the stabilizer/macroinitiator,
catalyst, solvent, and monomers, respectively. ROPISA has enabled
the introduction of biodegradable, biocompatible, and crystallizable
polylactones to nanoparticles and related materials. The polymerization
temperatures (20, 50, or 80 °C) had an important effect on the
crystallization behavior and corresponding self-assembly of PIB-b-PCL and PIB-b-PVL. The highest temperature
(80 °C) interfered with the crystallization and in situ fixation, which readily reorganized nanoparticles and formed either
spherical micelles or a precipitate. However, at the lowest temperature
(20 °C), fibrillar nanoparticles were gradually formed and stabilized
according to the classical polymerization-induced self-assembly (PISA)
mechanism. Furthermore, temperature adjustment altered the monomer
sequence in the P(CL-co-VL) block and the subsequent
crystallization and self-assembly. At 80 °C, the P(CL-co-VL) block formed a weakly crystallized random structure,
which generated spherical micelles. By contrast, at 20 °C, ROPISA
favored the generation of P(CL-co-VL) containing
a quasi-block sequence, resulting in the acquisition of fibrillar
micelles. Interestingly, at different polymerization temperatures,
nanoparticles exhibited different morphologies, even when the compositions
were similar. The results of this study revealed that ROPISA provided
a feasible alternative to PISA for synthesizing nanoparticles.