A series of optically active 3-(9-alkylfluoren-9-yl)propene oxides were synthesized by the reaction of 9-alkylfluoren-9-yllithium with the optically active epichlorohydrin at -70 degrees C and polymerized using KOH as an initiator The molecular weight of the poly(3-(9-alkylfluoren-9-yl)propene oxide)s is larger than that of poly(4 4 4-triphenyl-1-butene oxide) which had been proved to take stable helical conformation in solution and their molecular weight distributions were narrower (M-w/M-n = 1 02 to 1 09) than poly(4 4 4-triphenyl-1-butene oxide) By investigating of chiroptical properties of a series of polymers derived from optically active epoxide it is suggested that the poly(3-(9-alkylfluoren-9-yl) propene oxide)s keep one-handed helical conformation in solution (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved