A molecular dynamics (MD) simulation was employed to investigate structure features and segment orientation of four poly (phenylene vinylene) (PPV) derivatives with long, flexible side chains at room temperature. In the simulations, the main chains of the polymers were found to be semirigid and exhibit a tendency to coil into ellipsoidal helices or form zigzag conformations of limited regularity. The simulations show that continuous quasi-coplanar segments along the backbone are in a range of approximately 2-4 repeat units. The ordered orientation and coupling distance of interchain aromatic rings can be correlated with optical properties of materials. A simplified quantum-mechanical method was developed to investigate optical properties based on MD trajectories. The method was tested to simulate the absorption spectra of four PPV derivatives. The absorption maxima of the calculated spectra are in reasonable agreement with experimental data. This work implies that long-range electron transfer along the backbones of these polymers may not occur, but may be mediated by interchain interactions.