Optically active azobenzenedicarboxylic acids were synthesized from l-alanine, and the polycondensation of the diacids with o-, m-, p-xylylenediols, 5-norbornene-2,3-endo,endo- and exo,exo-dimethanols, m-, p-xylylenediamines, and trans-1,4-cyclohexanediamine was carried in N,N-dimethylformamide. Polymers with weight-average molecular weights of 3,300-33,700 were obtained in 63%-quantitative yields. All the polymers reversibly isomerized the azobenzene units from trans to cis and vice versa upon UV- and visible-light irradiations. The polymers exhibited no evidence for the formation of a chiral secondary structure.