In order to obtain the optimized structure rubber, a novel miktoarm star styrene-butadiene rubber （MS- SBR） was initiated by a multifunctional macromolecular initiator with polydiene arm and Sn-C bond. The properties of MS-SBR were investigated with respect to the morphology, mechanical properties, and dynamic viscoelasticity in comparison with those of the blends, natural rubber （NR）/star styrene-butadiene random rubber （S-SBR） blend rubber and cis-l,4-polybutadiene rubber （cis-BR）/S-SBR blend rubber. The samples were analyzed using transmission elec- tron microscopy （TEM）, dynamic mechanical thermal analyzer （DMTA）, and mechanical properties test. The analy- sis results show that MS-SBR possesses the desired combination of low rolling resistance and high antiskid resistance, and is promising for application in high performance tire tread.
A new kind of multifunctional macromolecular initiator with Sn-C bonds and polydiene arms was synthesized by living anionic polymerization. At first, polydiene-stannum chloride （PD-SnCl3） was prepared by the reaction of n-butyl-Li （n-BuLi）, stannic chloride （SnCl4） and diene. Then PD-SnCl3 was used to react with the dilithium initiator to prepare the multifunctional organic macromolecular initiators. The result suggested that the initiators had a remarkable yield by GPC, nearly 90%. By using these multifunctional macromolecular initiators, styrene and butadiene were effectively polymefized via anionic polymerization, which gave birth to novel miktoarm star copolymers. The relative molecular weight and polydispersity index, microstructure contents, copolymerization components, glass transition temperature （Tg） and morphology of the miktoarm star copolymers were investigated by GPC-UV, ~H NMR, DSC and TEM, respectively. 2009 Xing Ying Zhang. Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Chinese Chemical Society. All rights reserved.
