| abstract |
A tire treadstock elastomer having reduced hysteresis is prepared by (1) preparing a living polymer by anionic polymerization of a conjugated diene or copolymerization of a conjugated diene with a monovinyl aromatic hydrocarbon, (2) endcapping the living polymer with at least one equivalent, preferably 3 to 15 equivalents, of a 1-vinylimidazole or 1-vinylbenzimidazole, preferably 1-vinylimidazole; (3) quenching and recovering the endcapped polymer and (4) curing the endcapped polymer using a conventional rubber curing recipe to form an elastomer having reduced hysteresis. This elastomer either alone or blended with a conventional treadstock rubber may form a tire treadstock. |