The present article described the synthesis of the coumarin-containing polypeptides using the water-soluble active ester method and the reinforcement of the polyion complex (PIC) fibers by the photochemical cross-linking between the polypeptide-pendant coumaryloxyacetyl groups. Two kinds of cationic polypeptides, poly(alpha, L-lysine) (PLL) and poly(alpha, L-ornithine) (PLO) were treated with (4-hydroxyphenyl) dimethyl sulfonium methyl sulfate ester in water to incorporate the photoreactive coumaryloxyacetyl groups into the side chain amino groups of the PLL and PLO. The contents of the photoreactive groups in the produced coumarin-containing polypepides were controlled by the molar ratios of the amino groups to the active ester. The resulting coumarin-containing cationic polypeptides were spun into the PIC fibers with the anionic polysaccharide gellan in water. The tensile strengths of the coumarin-containing PIC fibers were superior to those of the intact PLL- and PLO-gellan PIC fibers. The mechanical strength of the coumarin-containing PIC fibers further increased upon light-irradiation. From these results, we concluded that the hydrophobic interactions and the covalent cross-linking due to the photochemical dimerization between the coumaryloxyacetyl groups significantly contributed to reinforcement of the PIC fibers. The present results afford a new methodology to the PIC reinforcement that was achieved by the polymer modification reaction in watery process. (C) 2003 Kluwer Academic Publishers.