A method comprises reacting a compound of the general formula R14-mMOR3m wherein m is an integer from 2 to 4, R1 is selected from alkyl, alkenyl, aryl, alkynyl or epoxy, and wherein R1 is nonfluorinated, or fully or partially fluorinated; OR3 is alkoxy; and M is an element selected from group 14 of the periodic table; with a compound of the general formula R2M1 wherein R2 is selected from alkyl, alkenyl, aryl, alkynyl or epoxy, and wherein R2 is at least partially fluorinated; and M1 is an element from group I of the periodic table; so as to make a compound of the general formula R14-mMOR3m-1R2. A similar method of the invention comprises reacting a compound of the general formula R14-mMOR3m-nXn wherein m is an integer from 2 to 4, and n is an integer from 0 to 3 and is not greater than m; R1 is selected from alkyl, alkenyl, aryl, alkynyl or epoxy, and wherein R1 is nonfluorinated, or fully or partially fluorinated; OR3 is alkoxy; X is a halogen; and M is an element selected from group 14 of the periodic table; with a compound of the general formula R2M1, wherein R2 is selected from alkyl, alkenyl, aryl, alkynyl or epoxy, and wherein R2 is at least partially fluorinated; and M1 is an element from group I of the periodic table; so as to make a compound of the general formula R2MR14-mOR3m-nXn-1. These compounds thus formed can be further reacted to attach an additional Rx group, or hydrolyzed, alone or with one or more similar compounds, to form a material having a molecular weight of from 500 to 10,000, which material can be deposited on various substrates as a coating or deposited and patterned for a waveguide or other optical device components.