Synthesis of diblock copolymers containing both polydiene and polyalcohol blocks

A wide range of functional diblock copolymers containing both functional polymer and hydrocarbon polymer, have been prepared by the combination of anionic polymerization and borane chemistry. The distinctive hydroboration reactivity between various polydienes enables us to selectively functionalize one polydiene segment in diblock copolymers which contain two different polydiene segments. In turn, the hydroborated polymers are valuable intermediate compounds which can be converted to a whole family of functional polymers with a variety of other functionalities under mild reaction conditions. The hydroxylated diblock copolymer is used as an example to demonstrate the chemistry. The two‐phase nature of these copolymers is also shown by the observation of two distinctive glass transition temperatures associated with the individual polymer segments.