CHAPTER 1
 INTTRODUCTION

 This dissertation aims at summarizing the work realized on two different research domains

of polymer chemistry: the air/water (A/W) interfacial behavior of block copolymers and the

synthesis of nanoparticles for drug detoxification applications. As presented in Chapters 3, 4, and

5, the first three research projects are related to the self-assembly of amphiphilic block

copolymers at the A/W interface, whereas Chapters 6 and 7 describe the investigations carried

out on the possibility for 2 different types of nanoparticulate systems to be used as drug

detoxification agents. While Chapter 2 briefly describes the principal experimental techniques

mentioned in the subsequent chapters, this first introductory chapter serves as literature

background for the different research proj ects and also defines the key concepts used throughout

this dissertation.

 1.1 Block Copolymers in the Bulk and in Solution

 "Block copolymer" is a general term used to define a macromolecule composed of

different polymer chains. The field of block copolymers has attracted a lot of interest in the past

thirty years because the eventual phase separation between immiscible blocks in various

environments, such as in the bulk, often leads to well-defined self-assembled structures with

unique morphologies with characteristic sizes ranging between a few nanometers up to hundreds

of nanometers.1,2 Moreover, the recent emergence of controlled polymerization techniques such

as living anionic polymerization,3 ATRP (atom transfer radical polymerization),4 Or RAFT

(reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer)' has allowed access to a variety of

compositions and architectures (star,6 mikto-arm,7 cyclic .), which significantly increases the

diversity of peculiar and regular patterns obtainable resulting from their self-assembly. A lot of

research still has to be done to better understand the relationships between block copolymer