Small quantities of regio-defects in a regio-/stereoregular polymer weaken its tacticity and properties. This work clarified the origin of the regio-defect in the process of synthesizing poly(monothiocarbonate) through the copolymerization of propylene oxide (PO) and carbonyl sulfide (COS) catalyzed by a (salen)CrCl complex accompanied by bis(triphenylphosphoranylidene)ammonium chloride ([PPN]Cl). Quantitative characterization results from the MALDI-TOF-MS and 1H (13C) NMR spectroscopy suggested that the chain transfer reaction resulted in the regio-defect in the final copolymer, i.e., tail-to-tail (T–T) diad and dithiocarbonate (DTC) unit. The chain transferring to water in the reaction system led to the production of a (salen)Cr–OH intermediate, which initiated the copolymerization via either attacking PO first to result in formation of a T–T diad or first activating COS to produce mercapto (−SH) end-capped dormant chains via decarboxylation, thus generating a DTC unit in the final product through anoth...