The tertiary carbenium ions 2
+ and
3
+, models of the propagating species in
carbocationic
isobutylene polymerization, are generated from the tertiary chlorides
2c and 3c with a Lewis acid in the
presence of isobutylene (1c) and one of the allylsilanes
1a or 1b, which act as terminators. Since
the
rate of the termination reaction is known, the ratio of the
telomerization products can be evaluated to
give a propagation rate constant of (6 ± 2) × 108 L
mol-1 s-1
(independent of temperature) for the
carbocationic oligomerization of isobutylene in
dichloromethane.