A series of novel poly(amine amide)s (IIa-III) with pendent N-carbazolylphenyl units having inherent viscosities of 0.25-1.06 dL/g were prepared via direct phosphorylation polycondensation from various dicarboxylic acids and a carbazole-based aromatic diamine. Except for poly(amine amide) IIc, derived from trans-1,4-cyclohexanedicarboxylic acid, all the other amorphous poly(amine amide)s were readily soluble in many polar solvents, such as N,N-dimethylacetamide and N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP), and could be cast into transparent and flexible films. The aromatic poly (amine amide)s had useful levels of thermal stability associated with relatively high glass-transition temperatures (268-331 degrees C), 10% weight loss temperatures in excess of 540 degrees C, and char yields at 800 degrees C in nitrogen higher than 60%. These polymers exhibited maximum ultraviolet-visible absorption at 293-361 nm in NMP solutions. Their photoluminescence in NMP solutions exhibited fluorescence emission maxima around 362 and 448-499 nm for aromatic-aliphatic poly(amine amide)s IIa-IIc and aromatic poly (amine amide)s IId-III, respectively. The fluorescence quantum yield in NMP solutions ranged from 0.34% for IIj to 4.44% for IIa. The hole-transporting and electrochromic properties were examined with electrochemical and spectroelectrochemical methods. Cyclic voltammograms of the poly(amine amide) films cast onto an indium, tin oxide coated glass substrate exhibited reversible oxidation at 0.81 V and irreversible oxidation redox couples at 1.20 V versus Ag/AgCl in acetonitrile solutions, and they revealed excellent stability of the electrochromic characteristics, with a color change from yellow to green at applied potentials ranging from 0.00 to 1.05 V. (c) 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.