Acrylamido boronic acids are important building blocks for functional polymers but suffer from poor synthetic strategies and unwanted polymerisation. A two-step deprotection of pinacolato methacrylamido phenylene boronic esters to generate 2-, 3- and 4-methacrylamido phenylboronic acids in good yield and purity is reported. Boronic acid containing methacrylamido monomers are now available in good yields for incorporation into polymers. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.