Upon photolysis or heating, aryl cyclic sulfonium (ACS) zwitterions polymerize by ring-opening and loss of charge to yield nonionic polymers. These water-soluble monomers potentially are useful for photolithography because they can be cast from and developed in water. The ACS zwitterion from bisphenol A, 1,1'-[isopropylidenebis(6-hydroxy-3,1-phenylene)] bis (tetrahydrothiophenium hydroxide) bis(inner salt) (1) is a negative-tone, photosensitive material that after photolysis yields a crosslinked film. Unexposed regions are removed by water. The cured film has a low dielectric constant, high volume resistivity, a high degree of planarization, low residual stress, thermogravimetric stability, acceptable fracture toughness, and high hardness. These are desirable properties for a dielectric material used in microelectronic applications. However, a shortcoming of the material is its low T-g, at about 140 degrees C. A second ACS zwitterion, 1,1'-[fluorenylidenebis(6-hydroxy-3,1-phenylene)] bis(tetrahydrothiophenium hydroxide) bis(inner salt) (2) was prepared that yields a crosslinked polymer with a higher T-g of about 190 degrees C.