Thermally-staged polymer process

A thermally-staged process for preparing polymers, particularly alternating interpolymers of one or more polar monomers and one or more mono or polyolefins which comprises: (1) reacting, in a first stage, a polar monomer-Lewis Acid complex with an olefin in the presence of an active oxygen compound at a temperature of about -100 DEG C to about 0 DEG C for a time sufficient enough to allow for conversion of up to 50% of the polar monomer to interpolymer; (2) raising the temperature of the reaction mixture, in a second stage, to about 0 DEG to about 100 DEG C; (3) maintaining the reaction mixture at about 0 DEG to about 100 DEG C for a time sufficient to optimize the yield of interpolymer; and (4) recovering the interpolymer from the reaction mixture.