AbstractMethacrylonitrile was polymerized by a number of ate‐complex catalysts. The catalysts used were NaAlR4, LiAlR4, LiZnR3, Li2ZnR4, RMg[AlR4], and Mg[AlR4]2. It was found that the ate‐complex catalysts in which one of the alkyls is replaced by a diphenylamino group are capable of producing polymers with higher degrees of crystallinity than those of polymers obtained by unmodified catalysts. It was shown that the diphenylamide linkage in these catalytic systems must play an important role in the steric control in the propagation steps of this type of polymerization, although the mechanism is not clear at present. The crystallinity index used in this research gave a linear relation againstImeasured by NMR, and can be used as a measure of the stereo‐regularity of the po