Amino acid based polymers are of interest for a variety of biomaterial applications including drug delivery, proteomics, and tissue engineering. A new class of polymers bearing amino acids and dipeptides has been prepared using acyclic diene metathesis (ADMET) to create copolymers of polyethylene with linear amino alcohol, branched amino acid, or branched peptide substituents termed bio-olefins. Monomers with the amino acid/dipeptide functionality attached through both the N and C-terminus have been prepared, and a discussion on the synthesis of the monomers and a comparison of the thermal properties of the resulting polymers are discussed. The resulting highly functionalized polymers are strong, film-forming materials with moduli in the range of LDPE with molecular weights typical of polycondensation polymers, i.e. Nylon and PET. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.