Patent 7608664 was granted and assigned to Bridgestone on October, 2009 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
In one embodiment of the present invention, a curable sealant composition and method for its preparation are provided. The composition includes a polymer which is prepared by functionalizing a poly(conjugated diene) with a curable group such as a tetra-substituted silicon compound and then substantially hydrogenating the functionalized polymer in the presence of a Ziegler type catalyst. The composition can further include additional curable sealant ingredient selected from the group consisting of plasticizers, fillers, reinforcing agents, modifiers, curing catalysts/hardeners, stabilizers, and mixtures thereof.