A novel supramolecular liquid-crystalline polyurethane was prepared by mixing the polyurethane containing a pendant pyridyl unit as H-bond acceptor and 4-dodecyloxybenzoic acid as H-bond donor. Intermolecular hydrogen bond formation was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The liquid-crystalline behaviour of the complex formed was established by differential scanning calorimetry, polarizing optical microscopy and X-ray diffractometry. The complex exhibited highly ordered smectic and nematic phases. The smectic-nematic and nematic-isotropic transitions were observed at 89 degrees C and 120 degrees C, respectively.