AbstractAttempts to synthesize conjugated polymers with cyanine dyes attached to the conjugated backbone are described. The experimental approach is to prepare and characterize conjugated polymers with attached quinolinium ions and then to convert these to dyes by reaction with lepidinium methiodide. Aromatic Schiff‐base polymers were chosen as the conjugated backbone. Since unsubstituted Schiff bases show very little conjugation, a series of model compounds and model polymers were prepared and their electronic spectra were determined in order to correlate the effect of substituents on electron delocalization. Efforts are being made to prepare high molecular weight polymers by a Schiff‐base exchange reaction. The syntheses of various monomers for the Schiff‐base exchange reaction are desc