Using time-resolved and steady-state photoluminescence techniques, fluorene/fluorenone copolymers have been studied to investigate the role of keto defects in degraded polyfluorene. Keto sites can be populated via migration from polyfluorene singlets, thereby quenching the polyfluorene fluorescence, and via direct photon absorption. In the former case, the migration process dominates all thermal and interchain variability in the efficiency of quenching. No annihilation process of fluorenone triplets and no interchain processes such as excimer formation participate in the defect emission itself. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.