The molecular weights of emulsion polychloroprenes, prepared at four different temperatures in the presence and absence of a suitable mercaptan chain‐transfer agents, have been studied. The particular mercaptan used, a tertiary dodecyl type, was found to disappear at the relatively slow rate, which was first‐order up to high conversions. This permitted the preparation of polymer having a relatively uniform intrinsic viscosity up to high conversions. However, under certain conditions, the crosslinking reaction was found to give rise to the usual peaks in the viscosity–conversion curves. These curves differed from those of other dienes studied, in that the heights of the maxima depended not only on polymerization temperature but also on the mercaptan charge. This anomaly could be accounted for by the possibility of more than one mechanism of crosslinking. The above behavior made it impossible to obtain a quantitative measures of the crosslinking rate. However, observations of the postpolymerization changes experienced by this polymer lead to the conclusion that it has a high crosslinking rate.