Poly(ferrocenylmethyl acrylate), poly(ferrocenylmethyl methacrylate), and poly(ferrocenylethylene) have been prepared by AIBN-catalyzed, free-radical polymerization in benzene solution. Treatment of these polymers with strongly electron attracting compounds such as tetracyanoethylene, dichlorodicyanoquinone, and o-chloranil leads to poly(ferricinium) salts, or polymeric charge-transfer derivatives. The characterization of these polymers was carried out by kinetic studies, infrared, nuclear magnetic resonance, ultraviolet, and Mossbauer spectroscopy, as well as gel permeation chromatography and viscosity studies. Some of these studies must be

Communications to the Editor 105 Figure 4. Generalized retention curve for polypropylene using hexadecane probe (column C) O, melting curve, first series; , melting curve, second series.those obtained by other procedures is a further corroboration, as is the fact that the values of Tm are not decreased from the expected values for the polymers used. If there were any appreciable solution of the probe molecules in the crystalline regions, some depression of 7", would be anticipated.If further experiments verify this conclusion it would appear possible to use this phenomenon to construct a new definition of "order" in polymers. That is, an "ordered region" would be defined as a region impermeable to probe molecules which can permeate the "amorphous regions" of the polymer. The relation of values obtained using this method to those obtained by more conventional techniques using X-ray diffraction or density measurements must await further study in which all three methods are used on identical polymer samples. However it should be pointed out that this new method should in principle be sensitive to the presence of very small crystallites which cannot be detected by standard X-ray diffraction methods. Unlike the density method, the presence of voids or air bubbles should not affect the results either. However it has the disadvantage that the polymer must be in the form of a thin film in order to be studied. In spite of this, the simplicity of the method has much to commend it, and the additional information on thermodynamic interactions and on structural changes such as glass transitions which may be derived from the same data1,2 represent added features. In view of these considerations we suggest that the "molecular probe" technique will become a standard procedure in the study of melting transitions in macromolecules.

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Die Thermolyse der Verbindungen (I) in Freon 113 ergibt bei 100°C ein Gemisch der Verbindungen (II)‐(VIIIc).