The electronic structure of a novel conjugated polymer, polyalkylidene fluorene has been studied using a combined experimental-theoretical approach. The densities of states in the valence band region of the new derivative, poly(9-(1′-decylundecylidene)fluorene), were measured by ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy and compared with electronic band-structure calculations performed in the valence effective Hamiltonian framework. The results are compared with those of similar studies on the reference polymer poly(9,9-dioctylfluorene). We report the experimentally determined ionization potential for this new material and discuss the role of substitution in altering the electronic properties of the polymer backbone. © 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.