A new approach to the synthesis of photoactive comb-shaped homo- and copolyamides containing azobenzene, cinnamate, and coumarin side groups for photoalignment of liquid crystals was elaborated. Photooptical properties and photoorientational ability of these polymers with respect to liquid crystals were studied. It was shown that polarized UV irradiation of all spin-coated polyamides leads to orientation of liquid crystalline molecules deposited on the polyamide thin films. The synthesized polymers containing cinnamate and coumarin side groups as well as azobenzene-containing cyano- and nitro-substituted polymers demonstrated good orientation ability in relation to liquid crystals displaying photoinduced planar orientation with high dichroism values within the range of 0.68-0.72. Contrary to the above-mentioned polyamides, azobenzene-containing fluorosubstituted polymers induced a homeotropic orientation of liquid crystals. It was shown that the synthesized photoactive polyamides can be considered as promising photoalignment materials for application in display technology, photonics, and other smart optical devices. (c) 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2013, 51, 4031-4041