Direct arylation of adenine with fluoro- and chloronitrobenzenes leads to mixtures of N9 and N7 substituted adenines. After separation by column chromatography, the individual isomers can be efficiently hydrogenated on Pd to give the corresponding aminophenyladenines. A significant enhancement of the reaction rate by microwave irradiation was observed. This two-step procedure was found to be a feasible route to otherwise hardly available 7-aminophenyladenines. ...