Three families of fluorene-oxadiazole-based polymers with confinement moieties have successfully been prepared by the two-step method for polyoxadiazole synthesis. These polymers show good solubility in common organic solvents, high thermal stability, and strong violet and blue photaluminescence in solution and as films, respectively. Their low-lying highest occupied molecular orbital/lowest unoccupied molecular orbital energy levels originate from the electron deficiency of an oxadiazole moiety, and this suggests that they may be useful for blue-emitting and electron-transport/hole-blocking layers in electroluminescent devices. (C) 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.