The present disclosure provides cyclic silyl ethers of the formula:

##STR00001##

and salts thereof. The cyclic silyl ethers may be useful as monomers for preparing polymers. Also described herein are polymers prepared by polymerizing a cyclic silyl ether and optionally one or more additional monomers. The polymers may be degradable (e.g., biodegradable). One or more OSi bonds of the polymers may be the degradation sites. Also described herein are compositions and kits including the cyclic silyl ethers or polymers; methods of preparing the polymers; and methods of using the polymers, compositions, and kits.

The present disclosure describes functional oligomers or functional polymers. The functional oligomers or functional polymers may contain functional groups, e.g., OH and/or CHO. The functional oligomers or functional polymers may be obtained from hydrolyzing certain copolymers and may be soluble in commercially available solvents. The copolymers may be thermosetting polymers. The functional oligomers and functional polymers may be useful for recycling thermosetting polymers and may be useful as starting materials for preparing additional oligomers or polymers.