The polymerization of L-lactide with triethylaluminium and alkylaluminium alkoxides was studied in detail. It was found that commercial triethylaluminium is often contaminated with aluminium ethoxide groups resulting from the rapid oxidation of triethylaluminium. The ethoxide group is a far more reactive initiator than the aluminium-carbon bond. Therefore reactive initiators can be prepared in situ by the reaction of pure triethylaluminium with vitamins, hormones or drugs containing hydroxyl groups. Polymerization of L-lactide with these in situ prepared initiators yields oligo- or poly(L-lactide) with covalently bound vitamins, hormones or drugs. The bioactive co-initiators used in this study were geraniol, stigmasterol, tocopherol, testosterone, pregnenolone, ergocalciferol, cortisone and quinine. It is demonstrated by C-13 n.m.r. spectroscopy that the keto groups of steroids do not undergo redox reactions during the polymerization process.