Functionalized hydrogenated polymers

Abstract

A hydrogenated functionalized polymer comprises a functionalized polydiene that is selectively hydrogenated to achieve a predetermined level of saturation along at least the polydiene portion of the functionalized polydiene. The functionalized polydiene is a reaction product of 1) a living anionic elastomeric polymer initiated with a functional or nonfunctional initiator and 2) a functional polymerization terminator. In one embodiment, the living anionic elastomeric polymer is initiated with a functional initiator of formula AYLi in which Y is a divalent polymer radical; Li is a lithium atom bonded to a carbon atom of Y; and A is an amine-containing radical having the formula (X) The functionalized polydiene is also a reaction product of a diene monomer and a polymerization terminator of formula (I):

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.