The addition of side groups to improve the photooxidative stability of polymers used in polymer-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs) is explored. Infrared spectroscopy and computational chemistry techniques are used to study the effects of chemical substitution of the reactive vinylene moiety in poly(phenylene vinylene) (PPV). The bond order of the vinylene group in small oligomers is calculated using semiempirical techniques to assess the improvement in stability toward oxidants such as singlet oxygen. We find that PPV dimers allow relative comparisons across a range of possible substitutions. Experimental results correlate well with these calculations. The addition of electron-withdrawing substituents, such as nitrile groups, to the vinylene moiety is found to be particularly effective in reducing the reactivity of alkoxy-substituted PPV toward singlet oxygen. The photooxidative stability of a poly(phenylene acetylene) (PPA) derivative is also studied. It appears that this family of polymers is more stable toward photooxidation than are its PPV analogs.