is begun and the reactor contents are heated to 50 u00b0 c after 1 75 hours heating the polymer is completely dissolved in the methanol the solution is filtered and 0 5 part of sodium hydroxide is added followed by filtration the solvents are removed in a rotatory evaporator and are then dissolved in 20 parts by volume of acetone the solution is then slowly added to 300 parts of water containing 1 part by volume of concentrated hydrochloric acid the polymer is removed by filtration and is dried the resulting polymer in 86 percent yield is identified as poly 4 vinylphenol by infrared analysis the glass transition temperature of the polymer is determined to be 169 u00b0 c by differential scanning calorimeter dsc using the same procedure described in examples 1 and 2 2 parts of poly 4 acetoxystyrene 50 parts by volume of methanol and 0 5 part of methanesulfonic acid are reacted at 50 u00b0 c for 30 minutes at the end of this heating period complete solution of the polymer is obtained the polymer product isolated as described in example 1 and 2 is recovered in 85 percent yield and is identified as poly 4 vinylphenol by infrared analysis using the same procedure described in the preceding examples 4 parts of a 50 50 copolymer.