A method of producing a powder mass for a lithium battery, the method comprising: (a) providing a solution containing a sulfonated elastomer dissolved in a solvent or a precursor in a liquid form or dissolved in a solvent; (b) dispersing a plurality of particles of a cathode active material in the solution to form a slurry; and (c) dispensing the slurry and removing the solvent and/or polymerizing/curing the precursor to form the powder mass, wherein the powder mass comprises multiple particulates and at least a particulate comprises one or a plurality of particles of a cathode active material being encapsulated by a thin layer of sulfonated elastomer having a thickness from 1 nm to 10 m, a fully recoverable tensile strain from 2% to 800%, and a lithium ion conductivity from 10.sup.7 S/cm to 510.sup.2 S/cm at room temperature.

A method of producing a powder mass for a lithium battery, the method comprising: (a) providing a solution containing a sulfonated elastomer dissolved in a solvent or a precursor in a liquid form or dissolved in a solvent; (b) dispersing a plurality of particles of a cathode active material in the solution to form a slurry; and (c) dispensing the slurry and removing the solvent and/or polymerizing/curing the precursor to form the powder mass, wherein the powder mass comprises multiple particulates and at least a particulate comprises one or a plurality of particles of a cathode active material being encapsulated by a thin layer of sulfonated elastomer having a thickness from 1 nm to 10 m, a fully recoverable tensile strain from 2% to 800%, and a lithium ion conductivity from 10.sup.7 S/cm to 510.sup.2 S/cm at room temperature.

Provided are novel polymer particles for carrying a physiologically active substance and a method of preparing the same. The polymer particles for carrying a physiologically active substance can provide an analytical reagent, which has high analytical precision and sensitivity and can be stably prepared; can easily and precisely control the amount of functional groups carrying the physiologically active substance; can introduce, onto the surface of latex particles, a hydrophilic compound for inhibiting a nonspecific reaction; and can be prepared to have a narrow and uniform particle size distribution. The polymer particles for carrying a physiologically active substance are obtained by polymerizing a monomer, a radical polymerization initiator, and an emulsifier, and the emulsifier is an amphiphilic block polymer of the general formula (1): ##STR00001##

Provided are novel polymer particles for carrying a physiologically active substance and a method of preparing the same. The polymer particles for carrying a physiologically active substance can provide an analytical reagent, which has high analytical precision and sensitivity and can be stably prepared; can easily and precisely control the amount of functional groups carrying the physiologically active substance; can introduce, onto the surface of latex particles, a hydrophilic compound for inhibiting a nonspecific reaction; and can be prepared to have a narrow and uniform particle size distribution. The polymer particles for carrying a physiologically active substance are obtained by polymerizing a monomer, a radical polymerization initiator, and an emulsifier, and the emulsifier is an amphiphilic block polymer of the general formula (1): ##STR00001##

A star block copolymer and a thermoplastic elastomer including plurality of the star block copolymers and a method of making both is taught. The star block copolymers of the present invention include a core component having an -methylstyrene oligomer wherein arms emanate from the core component and the arms are poly(isobutylene-block-styrene) diblock copolymers.

A star block copolymer and a thermoplastic elastomer including plurality of the star block copolymers and a method of making both is taught. The star block copolymers of the present invention include a core component having an -methylstyrene oligomer wherein arms emanate from the core component and the arms are poly(isobutylene-block-styrene) diblock copolymers.

Provided is a multi-component copolymer comprising conjugated diene units, non-conjugated olefin units and aromatic vinyl units, wherein: a peak top molecular weight of chain parts, divided by the conjugated diene units and each containing one or more of the non-conjugated olefin units and/or one or more of the aromatic vinyl units, is 1,000 or more and less than 40,000. A rubber composition comprising the multi-component copolymer, a crosslinked rubber composition, and a rubber article comprising the crosslinked rubber composition are also provided.

The present invention relates to a method of producing a polymer including: polymerizing a compound represented by the following formula (3); or copolymerizing the compound represented by the following formula (3) with a compound (6) having a reactive carbon-carbon double bond and differing from the compound represented by the following formula (3), in a presence of at least one compound selected from the group consisting of compounds represented by the following formula (1) and compounds represented by the following formula (2).

The present invention relates to a method of producing a polymer including: polymerizing a compound represented by the following formula (3); or copolymerizing the compound represented by the following formula (3) with a compound (6) having a reactive carbon-carbon double bond and differing from the compound represented by the following formula (3), in a presence of at least one compound selected from the group consisting of compounds represented by the following formula (1) and compounds represented by the following formula (2).

A method for producing a thermoplastic elastomer includes forming a first block by copolymerizing a C4-C7 isoolefin monomer and alkylstyrene in the presence of a polymerization initiator; and forming a second block by polymerizing aromatic vinyl monomers. The thermoplastic elastomer comprises the first block and the second block. An amount of unreacted portion of the alkylstyrene during the formation of the first block is maintained at a molar ratio of not more than 1/90 relative to a total amount of the isoolefin monomer. The alkylstyrene is represented by the general formula (1), and the polymerization initiator is represented by the general formula (2).