Chain polymerisations used for the synthesis of poly(arylene vinylene)s have in common that they proceed via a quinoid compound. The formation of this compound is a high-energy step that involves the loss of the aromatic resonance energy of the monomer and hence must be compensated by a driving force. In order to comprehend this driving force monomers with a growing aromatic resonance energy an polymerised via the sulphinyl precursor route described. Next the conversion of the synthesised polymers to their corresponding conjugated polymer is followed with different techniques and the u.v.- vis, absorbance and photoluminescence spectra are determined. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.