Stimuli-Responsive Star Polymers

ABSTRACT: Stimuli-responsive star polymers gain more and more interest over the last decades due to their unique proper-ties compared to their linear counterparts. The branched struc-ture for instance has influence on the responsive behavior of these polymers. This review offers an overview of stimuli-re-sponsive star polymers generated by different polymerization techniques, e.g. anionic and controlled radical polymerization (CRP). Beside conventional branched homopolymers different other types like block copolymers, miktoarm star copolymers, core crosslinked star polymers (CCS) and comb polymers are also presented. Furthermore their responsive behavior in solu-tion or immobilized on a substrate, and their applications ar