A novel type of poly(p-phenylenevinylene)s which contain (bis(2,2′:6′,2′′-terpyridine) ruthenium (II) complexes has been developed. The absorption of the polymers at 500 nm was strongly enhanced by the metal complexes due to the presence of the metal–ligand charge transfer transition. The charge transportation is dispersive with hole carrier mobilities and activation energy of∼7×10−5 cm2 V−1 s−1and 0.20 eV, respectively, depending on the concentration of the metal complex. A log &mgr; vsE1/2plot shows that hole mobilities decrease with increasing field, which suggests the presence of off-diagonal disorder in the hopping sites. ©1997 American Institute of Physics.