Wholly aromatic main-chain rigid-chain polymers containing meta- and orthokink linkages were synthesized. The thermal property, liquid crystallinity, and crystalline structure were studied using DSC, polarized light microscopy, and wide-angle X-ray scattering. These polymers exhibited liquid crystallinity up to 50 mol % of meta- and orthokink linkages. The existence of liquid crystallinity in these polymers may be attributed to the adoption of cis conformation in kink units in these polymers because the energy penalty for doing so can be compensated by the formation of the liquid-crystalline phase. The crystallinity of the polymers was low, and the crystal structure was quite similar to that of the pure polymers (without kink units). This can be explained by that fact that the crystal region mainly consists of the nonkink units, and the kink units disrupt the crystallization of the polymers and form defects. (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.