Configuration and optical activity of vinyl polymers

It is obvious that the starred carbon atoms in vinyl polymers of the type exist in two distinct steric configurations which are denoted here by symbols + and −. It is shown that the existence of these configurations leads to the formation of different types of polymers; however, no simple relation correlates the optical activity of such polymers with the relative distribution of + and − configurations along the polymeric chain. The various possible structures are discussed in some detail. The kinetics of such polymerizations initiated by an optically active catalyst are treated by statistical methods.