Poly(lactide) based amphiphilic block copolymers : self assembly and stereocomplexation in aqueous media Due to its bioavailability and (bio)degradability poly(lactide) (PLA) is an interesting polymer that is already being used as packaging material surgical seam and drug delivery system. Dependent on various parameters such as polymer composition amphiphilicity sample preparation and the enantiomeric purity of lactide PLA in an amphiphilic block copolymer can affect the self assembly behavior dramatically. However sizes and shapes of aggregates have a critical effect on the interactions between biological and drug delivery systems where the general understanding of these polymers and their ability to influence self assembly is of significant interest in science. The first part of this thesis describes the synthesis and study of a series of linear poly(L lactide) (PLLA) and poly(D lactide) (PDLA) based amphiphilic block copolymers with varying PLA (hydrophobic) and poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) (hydrophilic) chain lengths and different block copolymer sequences (PEG PLA and PLA PEG). [...]