Application of Markov chains to copolymerizations

Binary copolymerization is treated as a Markov chain process to calculate the distribution of the degree of polymerization for three different copolymerization models. The results for the terminal model according to Melville and Walling show considerable differences compared to the models according to Russo and Munari and Inagaki and Fukuda. Although these latter models start from different assumptions, one considering a penultimate effect in termination reactions, the other one a penultimate effect in propagation reactions, the results for these two models differ only slightly.