The synthesis of N-methacryloyl 3,4-dihydroxyl-L-phenylalanine as follows:1.15 g (5.69 mmol) of Na2B4O7 was dissolved in 30 ml of water. The solution was degassed with argon for 30 minutes, after which 0.592 g (3.0 mmol) of L-DOPA was added and stirred for 15 minutes. 0.317 g (3.0 mmol) of Na2CO3 was then added, the solution was cooled to 0 °C and 0.3 ml (3.0 mmol) of methacryloyl chloride was slowly added with stirring. The pH of the solution was maintained above 9 with Na2CO3 during the reaction. After stirring for 1 hour at room temperature, the solution was acidified to pH 2 with concentrated HCl. The mixture was extracted with ethyl acetate three times. After washing with 0.1 M HCl and drying over anhydrous MgSO4, the solvent was removed in vacuo to yield crude light brown solid. The product was further purified by elution from a silica gel column with dichloromethane (DCM)