Oxidation of 1-benzyladenine (12) with m-chloroperoxybenzoic acid in MeOH or in MeOH-0.5 M phosphate buffer (pH 6.6) has been found to afford 1-benzyladenine 7-oxide (13) as the main product. Nonreductive debenzylation of 13 gave adenine 7-oxide (14) in 63% yield. The structure of 13 was unequivocally established by an X-ray crystallographic analysis.