  We report accurate numerical studies of excited state orderings in long
hypothetical pi-conjugated oligomers in which the hydrogen atoms of
trans-polyacetylene are replaced with conjugated sidegroups, within modified
Hubbard models. There exists a range of the bare Coulomb repulsion for which
the excited state ordering is conducive to photoluminescence in the substituted
systems, even as this ordering is opposite in the unsubstituted polyenes of the
same lengths. Our work provides motivation to study real pi-conjugated polymers
with transverse conjugation and small optical gaps.
