Degradation studies on puromycin have shown that this antibiotic is a derivative of 6-dimethylamino-9-(3'-aminoribosyl)purine (1). Synthetic studies directed towards a total synthesis of this antibiotic have led to a general method for the glycosidation of 6-dimethylaminopurine on the required 9-position (2, 3). It was observed that glycosidation of the chloromercury salts of 6-dimethylaminopurine or 2,8-bis-methylmercapto-6-dimethylaminopurine occurred on the 7-position, but that of 2-methylmercapto-6-dimethylaminopurine occurred on the 9-position. A series of N-6 substituted purines are described in this communication which should prove useful for the synthesis of puromycin analogs.An elegant synthesis of 6-alkylaminopurines by reaction of 6-methylmercaptopurine with amines has been recently described by Elion, Burgi, and Hitchings (4). This synthesis has the definite advantage that from one intermediate a series of 6-alkylaminopurines can be made by one further reaction. Unfortunately, these 6-alkylaminopurines, particularly if the amine is tertiary, will orientate to the 7-position during glycosidation and would not be useful for synthesis of N-6 structural variants of puromycin. Since 2-methylmercapto-6dimethylaminopurine will orientate to the 9-position, the synthesis of this compound (I -> IX) described in an earlier paper of this series (5) has now been shown to be adaptable to the preparation of N-6 variants of 2-methylmercapto-6-dimethylaminopurine.To show the wide adaptability of this synthesis, four types of amines were selected for study, (a) another symmetrical dialkylamine, diethylamine; (b) an aryl alkyl amine, N-methylaniline; (c) a cyclic secondary amine, piperidine; and (d) an unsymmetrical dialkyl amine, benzyl-n-butylamine. The last amine serves additional useful purposes discussed later.The reaction of the chloropyrimidine, I, with these amines was run in refluxing Methyl Cellosolve1 in the case of diethylamine and piperidine, whereas direct fusion was employed for the higher-boiling benzyl-n-butylamine and N-methylaniline. In all cases the yields of diamines, II, were good. The nitrosation reaction to III was varied in concentration of acetic acid in water depending upon the solubility of the diamines. Reduction to the non-crystalline triamines, V, was efficient with sodium hydrosulfite in 50% acetone. The crude triamines were immediately reacted with 90 % formic acid giving the 5-formamidopyrimidines, VI, as crystalline solids.2 Cyclization to the desired 2-methylmercapto-6-dialkyl-