At concentrations of 7 times 10(-6) to 7 times 10(-5) M, derivatives consisting of the polycylic ring structures fluoranthene, fluorenone, fluorene, anthraquinone, xanthenone, and dibenzofuran with appropriate amine side chains inhibited by over 90% the purified RNA-directed DNA polymerase of avian myeloblastosis virus acting on poly(deoxyadenylate-deoxythymidylate) [poly(dA-dT)]. Of these, only the fluoranthene derivatives were strong inhibitors of the viral DNA polymerase directed by polyadenylate-oligodeoxythymidylate [poly(A)-(dT)12-18]. Low levels of fluoranthene derivatives (1 times 10(-5) M) also strongly inhibited polymerase with polyinosinate-oligodeoxycytidylate [poly(I)-(dC)12-18], activated calf thymus DNA, and viral 70S RNA as templates, but not with polycytidylate-oligodeoxyguanylate as template. A comparison of the activity of 11 fluoranthene derivatives with different side chains showed that the structure of the amine side chain influenced both the extent of antipolymerase activity with a given template and the relative inhibition with different synthetic DNA and RNA templates. The naturally occurring polyamines, spermine, spermidine, and putrescine, did not inhibit the activity of the viral DNA polymerase. Studies on the mechanism of action indicated that the synthetic derivatives inhibited polymerase activity by binding to the template and not to the enzyme: 1) inhibition by fluoranthene derivatives was overcome by the addition of excess template including poly(dA-dT), poly(A)-(dT)12-18, poly(I)-(dC)12-18, viral 70S RNA, and activated calf thymus DNA; 2) the degree of inhibition by fluoranthene derivatives was unaffected by the addition of the creased viral DNA polymerase; 3) with the same template, Escherichia coli DNA-directed RNA polymerase and the viral RNA-directed DNA polymerase were inhibited to about the same extent; and 4) the derivatives formed a complex with DNA, poly(I), and poly(A) that was stable to exclusion chromatography on Sephadex G-100. Several derivatives also had biologic activity, since they blocked the ability of the murine sarcoma virus to transform cells.