Polymerization of a phenylacetylene monomer bearing a dendron moiety was carried out by using a rhodium complex Rh［(nbd)Cl2］2 as catalyst.The structure of the resultant was characterized with infrared (IR)

nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)

and UV-Visible absorption spectroscopic techniques; the experimental data confirmed the generation of the expected polyphenylacetylene derivative (P1) with dendron pendants.P1 was soluble in common organic solvents such as chloroform

N

N-dimethylformamide oxide

and tetrahydrofurran (THF)

and its average molecular weight was about 57300 The steric repulsion of between the bulky dendritic side chains make the polymer main-chain take a stereoregular cis-cisoid conformation.Consequently

P1 exhibits a pronounced shoulder at around 440 nm in the absorption spectrum its THF solution.Meanwhile

the bulky dendrons around the polymer mainchain protect the main-chain from thermalinduced decomposition via the “jacket effect"

thus P1 lost 5% of its weight at a temperature of 295℃

which is about 70℃ higher than its parent polymer

or polyphenylacetylene.