Poly[2-(2-(4-(trifluoromethyl) phenyl)ethenyl)-5-methoxy-1,4-phenylenevinylene] (PFEMPV) and a series of PPV copolymers containing 1,4-phenylenevinylene (PV) units were synthesized through a water-soluble precursor route, and their electrical and third-order nonlinear optical properties were studied. The PFEMPV films could not be doped with I-2, but FeCl3-doped films showed an electrical conductivity of 5.0 x 10(-4) S/cm. The conductivities of FeCl3-doped copolymer films ranged from 2.0 x 10(-3) to 2.0 S/cm depending on their copolymer compositions. The third-order nonlinear optical susceptibility, ((3)(chi))(-omega;omega,omega,-omega), was also investigated by the degenerate four wave mixing technique at 602 nm. The ((3)(chi)) value of PFEMPV was 6.9 x 10(-11) esu. The photoluminescence spectrum of PFEMPV shows its emission maximum at 550 nm.