Disclosed herein are the compounds shown below. Each R is an organic group, Cb is a carborane group, and —C6H4— is phenylene. The value of each m is a nonnegative integer, q is 0 or 1, with the proviso that if q is 0 then m is 0 or 1, p is a positive integer, r is a positive integer, and n is an integer greater than or equal to 10. Also disclosed are methods of making and crosslinking the compounds —{SiR2—([O]q—SiR2)m-[Cb-SiR2—([O]q—SiR2)m]p—C≡C—C6H4—C≡C}— —{SiR2—(O—SiR2)m—C≡C—C6H4—C≡C}n—; —{SiR2—([O]q—SiR2)m—[C≡C—C6H4—SiR2—([O]q—SiR2)m]p-Cb-[SiR2—([O]q—SiR2)m-Cb]r}-.