The incorporation of the first monomer unit in a growing chain of isotactic polypropylene affords an asymmetric carbon atom, and the orientation of subsequent monomer units has been explained on the basis of asymmetric induction. This hypothesis has now been tested by carrying out the polymerization of propylene in the presence of an optically active trialkylaluminium and α-titanium trichloride. The absence of optical activity in the resulting ...
