Several O6-aryl-2'-deoxyinosines were synthesized and found to undergo conversion to N6-substituted-2'-deoxyadenosines upon treatment with aqueous amines. The kinetics for reaction of these nucleosides with various amines suggests that O6-phenyl- and O6-(p-nitrophenyl)-2'-deoxyinosine are suitable ''convertible nucleoside'' precursors for the site-specific introduction of functionally tethered 2'-deoxyadenosines into DNA.