Nanostructured Polymers

Abstract

In the last few years, nanostructured polymers (NSPs), with their different morphologies and different spatial organizations, have found a wide range of uses in the medical and pharmaceutical fields. There is a considerable interest in the research of polymers as drug delivery systems to increase therapeutic advantages while minimizing side effects of the drug-loaded. The availability of new nanostructures with extraordinary properties has determined new and exciting possibilities for a continuous enlargement of polymer markets, especially in the case of amphiphilic block copolymers-based nanostructures. Considering the potential of these new materials and their strong dependency on the development and scaling-up of reliable processing routes, this chapter covers features of the main processing approaches for obtaining NSPs and the recent advances in their main biomedical applications.