Novel grafted azo-polymers were prepared from commercial low density polyethylene plates (PE). First, precursor polymers were synthesized by reacting PE in the presence of acryloyl chloride using gamma radiation. Further esterification of the resulting grafted polymers with four new amino-nitro substituted azobenzene derivatives bearing oligo(ethylene glycol) segments: N-methyl-N-{4-[(E)-(4-nitrophenyl)diazenyl]phenyl}-N-(5-hydroxy-3-oxapen tas-1-yl)amine (RED-PEG-2), N-methyl-N-{4-[(E)-(4-nitrophenyl)diazenyl]phenyl}-N-(8-hydroxy-3,6-diox aoctas-l-yl)amine (RED-PEG-3), N-methyl-N-(4-[(E)-(4-nitrophenyl)diazenyl]phenyl}-N-(11-hydroxy-3,6,9-t rioxaundecas-l-yl)amine (RED-PEG-4) and N-methyl-N-{4-[(E)-(4-nitrophenyl)diazenyl]phenyl}-N-(17-hydroxy-3,6,9,1 2,15-pentaoxaheptadecas-1-yl)amine (RED-PEG-6) led to the formation of branched azo-polymers. These polymers were characterized and their thermal and optical properties were studied. Besides, the influence of the irradiation dose, irradiation time and the structure of the dyes on the properties of the obtained polymers are discussed. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.