Olefin hydrogenation catalyst, process for hydrogenating polymers with the catalyst, and hydrogenated block copolymers produced by said processes

Abstract

An olefin hydrogenation catalyst containing as an essential component a compound represented by the formula: ##STR1## The catalyst is capable of selectively hydrogenating the unsaturated double bonds of the diene units of a conjugated diene polymer or copolymer having a number average molecular weight of 500 to 1,000,000, particularly a styrenebutadiene block copolymer comprising at least one polymer block A composed mainly of styrene and at least one polymer block B composed mainly of 1,3-butadiene and/or isoprene. The hydrogenated block copolymer obtained from such selective hydrogenation is useful as an elastomer, a thermoplastic elastomer or a thermoplastic resin having excellent weather resistance and oxidation resistance.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.