Intramolecular chloride shift polymerization by cationic mechanism. Polymerization of 3-chloro-3-methyl-1-butene and the effect of temperature on polymer structure

The cationic polymerization of 3-chloro-3-methyl-1-butene was investigated in the temperature range from ?30° to ?130°C. The structure of the polymer was characterized by NMR spectroscopy and was found to be a mixture of about equal portions of repeating units. Changing the temperature from ?30° to ?130°C. affects only slightly the respective amounts of these structures. No evidence for methide shift polymerization was found. These results are discussed in terms of an earlier proposed mechanism.