Mixed coupling agent process

Claim 1

A process for producing a branched polymer having an average functionality of about X arms comprising reacting a living lithium-terminated polymer having the polymer P-Li with a mixture of m moles of a first coupling agent and n moles of a second coupling agent wherein: (a) P is selected from the group consisting of polymer chains of one or more alkadienes having 4-12 carbon atoms and copolymers chains of one or more alkadienes having 4-12 carbon atoms and one or more monoalkenyl arenes of 8-18 carbon atoms having the alkenyl radical attached to an arene ring carbon atom; (b) said first coupling agent has a functionality of about Y; (c) said second coupling agent has a functionality of about Z; (d) the functionality values of X, Y and Z are all different; and (e) the amounts m and n are employed such that (m times Y) plus (n times Z) divided by (m+n) has a value between about 0.8X and 1.2X.