A series of 3-(N-arylmethyl-N-hydroxyamino)-l,2-O-cyclopentylidene-3-deoxy-5-O-toluoyl-agr-D-riboses has been prepared. The blocking groups used were chosen to allow an easy nucleosidation of these compounds to spin labelled analogs of natural nucleosides. The conformational behavior of the N-arylmethyl-N-hydroxyamino group has been studied using 3/CH NMR coupling data and molecular mechanics computations. Upon spontaneous oxidation, these hydroxylamines led to the corresponding aminoxyl free radicals which were submitted to EPR spectroscopy and quantum mechanical computations at a semiempirical level (PM3).