This report describes the synthesis of N4-(benzyl) AICAR triphosphate, a conformationally restrained analogue of N4-(benzyl) ribavirin triphosphate. Both of these nucleotides were evaluated as phosphodonors for wild-type p38MAP kinase and T106G p38MAP kinase, a designed mutant with expanded nucleotide specificity. The conformationally restrained nucleotide, N4-(benzyl) AICAR triphosphate, is orthogonal to (not accepted as a substrate ...