The problem of when derivations (and their powers) have the range in the Jacobson radical is considered. The proofs are based on the density theorem for derivations.

Let $R$ be a prime ring of characteristic different from 2, $Q_r$ its right Martindale quotient ring and $C$ its extended centroid. Suppose that $F$, $G$ are generalized skew derivations of $R$ with the same associated automorphism $\alpha$, and $p(x_1,...,x_n)$ is a non-central polynomial over $C$ such that $$\left[F\right(x),\alpha (y\left)\right]=G\left(\right[x,y\left]\right)$$ for all $x,y\in \{p(r_1,...,r_n):r_1,...,r_n\in R\}$. Then there exists $\lambda \in C$ such that $F\left(x\right)=G\left(x\right)=\lambda \alpha \left(x\right)$ for all $x\in R$.