New aromatic ring-layered polymers consisting of carbazole as a layered aromatic group and xanthene as a scaffold were designed and synthesized via the Sonogashira-Hagihara coupling reaction. Their optical and electrochemical behaviors were investigated in detail; the results showed that these polymers could be used as hole-transporting materials. Polymers with nitrobenzene moieties at the polymer chain ends quenched the emission from the layered carbazoles to the nitrobenzene termini; thus, the polymers acted as the molecular wire that transferred photoexcited energy and/or electrons to the polymer termini. (C) 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 47: 4279-4288, 2009