Poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVAL) partially functionalized with monosuccinate groups was obtained by reaction of PVAL with succinic anhydride using triethylamine as catalyst and N-Methyl-2-pyrrolidone as solvent. The structure of the resulting polymers was determined by H-1 and C-13 nuclear magnetic resonance (n.m.r.) spectroscopy. The influence of the type of catalyst, solvent composition and temperature was evaluated. The activation energy was found to be 31.8 kJ/mol. C-13 n.m.r. spectroscopy was used for the determination of the sequence distribution of partially modified PVAL [considered as a vinyl alcohol (VAL)-vinyl succinate (VSU) copolymer]. The results obtained show that VSU units have a random distribution with a slight alternating tendency in the copolymer. High degrees of modification were obtained in the coupling of model bioactive amino compounds (benzocaine, phenethylamine and 2-amino-2-deoxy-D-glucose (glucosamine)) to monosuccinylated PVAL activated with ethyl chloroformate. Interaction experiments between glucosamine-carrying PVAL (PVAL-G) and Concanavalin A (Con A) in a phosphate buffer (pH 7.2) at room temperature showed that PVAL-G interacts with Con A.