Advances in PEG-based ABC terpolymers and their applications

ABC terpolymers are a class of very important polymers because of their expansive molecular topologies and extensive architectures. As block A, poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) is one of the most principal categories owing to good biocompatibility and wide commercial availability. More importantly, the synthetic approaches of ABC terpolymers using PEG as a macroinitiator are facile and varied. PEG-based ABC terpolymers from design and synthesis to applications are highlighted in this review. Linear, 3-miktoarm, and cyclic polymers as the architecture are separated. The synthetic approaches of PEG-based ABC terpolymers mainly include the sequential polymerization or coupling of polymers. PEG-based ABC terpolymers have wide applications in the fields of drug carriers, gene vectors, templates for the fabrication of inorganic hollow nanospheres, and stabilizers of metal nanoparticles.