Chain-growth polycondensations of 3-amino-benzoic acid methyl esters la and 1b, bearing a tri- or tetra(ethylene glycol) methyl ether unit on the amino group, respectively, were carried out with lithium hexamethyldisilazide (LiHMDS) as a base and phenyl 4-methylbenzoate (2) as an initiator in THF at 0 degrees C. The poly(mw-benzamide)s obtained in the presence of N,N,N ',N '-tetramethylethylenedi-amine (TMEDA) possessed narrow molecular weight