3'-Hydroxymethyl 2'-deoxynucleoside 5'-triphosphates are inhibitors highly specific for reverse transcriptase.

dNTP(3'-OCH3), a 3'-O-methyl derivative of dNTP, is a chain terminator substrate for DNA synthesis catalyzed by AMV reverse transcriptase. The enzyme seems to be the only DNA polymerase susceptible to the inhibitor while all the other DNA polymerases tested are fully resistant to the nucleotide analog. The resistant polymerases are: E. coli DNA polymerase I, Klenow's fragment of DNA polymerase I, phage T4 DNA polymerase, calf thymus DNA polymerase alpha, rat liver DNA polymerase beta and calf thymus terminal deoxyribonucleotidyl transferase.