2 ch 2 o s co ch 2 r in certain preferred embodiments between about 1 and 50 of the monomer units have formula wherein y is oh or o benzyl the range is more preferably from about 5 to about 40 and most preferably from about 10 to about 30 particularly preferred are polymers wherein a is u2014 co u2014 x u2014 co u2014 and x is u2014 ch 2 u2014 o u2014 ch 2 ch 2 o s ch 2 with s being 0 to 200 also provided are polymers comprising monomer units having formula wherein y is ome or oet a is selected from the group consisting of u2014 co u2014 u2014 c u2014 nh u2014 and u2014 co u2014 x u2014 co u2014 and x is selected from the group consisting of u2014 ch 2 ch 2 u2014 ch 2 ch 2 ch 2 and u2014 ch 2 u2014 o u2014 ch 2 ch 2 o s ch 2 and s is 0 to 200 polymers of the present invention may be formed by reaction of the diphenol monomer units of the invention with a diacid or with phosgene thereby forming polyarylates and polycarbonates respectively a schematic diagram of the reaction of the diphenol monomer dte with a diacid is shown in scheme 1 below the compounds of the invention are those where the u201c starting u201d moieties designated as positions 1 4 below are replaced by one or more moieties that are more hydrophilic.