Conjugated diene monovinylarene block copolymers containing an internal conjugated diene block and having superior kink resistance properties are disclosed. These copolymers can be used to produce tubing and other end-use articles, and can be a replacement for flexible PVC.

A block copolymer composition with a good balance of physical properties suitable for various types of packaging such as food product containers, beverage containers, industrial containers and blister packs, having excellent transparency, gloss, strength, rigidity and formability, having excellent anti-blocking properties and anti-sticking properties, and excelling in the aforementioned properties even when used in mixture with vinyl aromatic hydrocarbon-type polymers is offered. A block copolymer composition of a vinyl aromatic hydrocarbon and a conjugated diene, wherein a block copolymer component (I) having a molecular weight peak in the range of molecular weight 150,000 to 300,000 and comprising tapered blocks has a conjugated diene content of 10 to 20 mass %; a block copolymer component (II) having a molecular weight peak in the range of molecular weight 50,000 to 140,000 and comprising tapered blocks has a conjugated diene content of 30 to 50 mass %; and a ratio (I)/(II) between molecular weight peak areas occupied by block copolymer component (I) and block copolymer component (II) in the block copolymer composition is 20/80 to 80/20.

Thermoplastic elastomer compositions can be use for medical applications, Comprising: a) 97.1 to 90.9 wt.-% star-shaped block copolymer A with identical arms of the structure [S.sub.1-(S/B).sub.k-(S/B).sub.l-(S/B).sub.m-S2].sub.n-X, where S.sub.1 and S.sub.2 are vinylaromatic hard polymer and S/B are soft random vinylaromatic/diene copolymer blocks; X is a coupling center; and b) 2.9 to 9.1 wt.-% plasticizer B.

Selectively hydrogenated block copolymers having semi-crystalline blocks hard blocks and copolymer soft blocks having a combination of excellent physical properties and solvent resistance have been discovered. The block copolymer comprises at least one A block of hydrogenated, polymerized 1,3-butadiene and at least one B block which is a random copolymer or a controlled distribution copolymer of conjugated diene and mono vinyl aromatic monomers in which the conjugated diene monomer units are selectively hydrogenated. Polar functionalized block embodiments of the block copolymers are also disclosed. Compositions comprising the block copolymer and articles made from the block copolymer have also been discovered. A method is disclosed which provides highly isotropic, high strength melt cast films of block copolymers.

Brominated vinylaromatic-diene block copolymers (Br-SBC) comprising a vinylaromatic polymer block S and a brominated diene polymer block BB, wherein before bromination the weight-average molar mass M.sub.w of the block S is greater than or equal to M.sub.w of the block BB, use thereof as flame retardants, and also polymer compositions comprising these for unfoamed and foamed thermoplastic polymers, for example EPS and XPS.

Brominated vinylaromatic-diene block copolymers (Br-SBC) comprising a vinylaromatic polymer block S and a brominated diene polymer block BB, wherein before bromination the weight-average molar mass M.sub.w of the block S is greater than or equal to M.sub.w of the block BB, use thereof as flame retardants, and also polymer compositions comprising these for unfoamed and foamed thermoplastic polymers, for example EPS and XPS.

The present invention relates to a method for producing a hydrogenated block copolymer, including the steps of: (a) forming a block copolymer by allowing a living polymer having a specific structure to react with a tetra- or more functional silane coupling agent; (b) hydrogenating the block copolymer to form a hydrogenated block copolymer; (c) isolating the resultant hydrogenated block copolymer; and (d) deactivating a functional group in the silane coupling agent and/or an unreacted functional group present in a coupling agent residue in the block copolymer or the hydrogenated block copolymer prior to the step (c), in which the number of functional groups derived from the coupling agent in the hydrogenated block copolymer recovered in the step (c) is 1.5 or less per block copolymer molecule; a hydrogenated block copolymer obtained by the method; and a composition containing the hydrogenated block copolymer.

The present invention relates to a method for producing a hydrogenated block copolymer, including the steps of: (a) forming a block copolymer by allowing a living polymer having a specific structure to react with a tetra- or more functional silane coupling agent; (b) hydrogenating the block copolymer to form a hydrogenated block copolymer; (c) isolating the resultant hydrogenated block copolymer; and (d) deactivating a functional group in the silane coupling agent and/or an unreacted functional group present in a coupling agent residue in the block copolymer or the hydrogenated block copolymer prior to the step (c), in which the number of functional groups derived from the coupling agent in the hydrogenated block copolymer recovered in the step (c) is 1.5 or less per block copolymer molecule; a hydrogenated block copolymer obtained by the method; and a composition containing the hydrogenated block copolymer.

The present invention relates to methods of forming star polymers having configurable architecture in which arms are synthesized by means of living anionic polymerization, with the arms being conjugated with a core, the core comprising m coupling groups, each coupling group having n methylene groups. The invention further relates to star polymers produced therefrom.

The present invention relates to a block copolymer, and to a block copolymer including an aromatic vinyl-based polymer block, a conjugated diene-based polymer block and a coupling agent linking group, wherein the conjugated diene-based polymer block includes a hydroxyl group, and the hydroxyl group content is 0.5 mol % to 12.0 mol % based on the double bond content of a conjugated diene-based monomer unit, a method for preparing the same, and an asphalt composition including the same.