Abstract
Much attention has been paid to the end-functionalized solution styrene-butadiene rubber (S-SBR) for the purpose of improving the interaction between the polymer and silica filler. Recently, we have been developing a new one-step methodology based on living anionic polymerization and 1, 1-diphenylethylene chemistry for synthesizing well-defined functionalized SBR with dimethylamino groups at both chain ends. This one-step methodology involves living anionic copolymerization of styrene and butadiene by treating with functionalized initiator synthesized from two equivalent of dimethylamino-functionalized DPE with sec-BuLi. The resulting copolymers were characterized by GPC, SLS, NMR, titration, and polymer reactions to show the expected chain-end-functionalized structures. As an extention of this methodology, a more complex multi-functionalized SBR with three dimethylamino groups at both chain ends and in chain could be successfully synthesized by treating with functionalized initiator synthesized from three equivalent of the DPE with sec-BuLi.
