The novel fluorinated and iodinated purine derivatives containing 9-(2-hydroxypropyl) (1a-7a and 9a-13a) and 9-(2-hydroxyethoxymethyl) (1b-3b, 5b, and 7b-12c) side chains were synthesized by a multistep synthetic route involving Baltz-Schiemann's fluorination and diazotation/iodination as key reactions. An unequivocal proof for the stereostructure of 5b was obtained by X-ray structure analysis. New