Coupling of alkali metal-terminated polymers

Claim 1

A polymer having the structure A(Y').sub.n-1 YR.sub.6-n (I) wherein A represents a benzene ring, wherein the radicals R which can be the same or different, are selected from the group consisting of hydrogen and hydrocarbyl radicals with 1-6 carbon atoms per radical, the total number of carbon atoms in all R radicals being between 0 and about 10, wherein n is 2, 3 or 4, wherein the radicals Y' which can be the same or different, are selected from the group of radicals consisting of --Y and ##STR5## wherein --Y is a radical selected from the group of radicals represented by the formulae ##STR6## wherein R" is hydrogen or a hydrocarbyl radical having 1-10 carbon atoms and the radicals Z, which can be the same or different, are selected from the group consisting of polymer chains of one or more alkadienes having 4-12 carbon atoms and copolymer chains of one or more alkadienes having 4-12 carbon atoms and one or more monovinylarenes of 8-18 carbon atoms, having the vinyl radical attached to an arene ring carbon atom, said polymer chains being unhydrogenated or having at least a portion of the olefinic unsaturation thereof removed by hydrogenation, with the further provision that at least 160 polymer chains Z are present in 100 molecules of the formula (I).