AbstractFor the free radical oligomerization of styrene monomer in the presence of carbon tetrachloride, a simplified reaction mechanism is proposed from which a simple scheme for predicting monomer conversion and molecular weight distribution is obtained. The kinetic constants other than those of the initiator decomposition step are determined by use of conversion data. In the scheme development, the kinetic constants for chain transfer and propagation steps are considered to be chain length independent, except that for the propagation step, an extra rate constant is considered for the reaction of monomer with radical produced in the transfer reaction with solvent. The mechanism proposed is found to be in reasonable agreement with out experimental data.