Change in specificity of glycosidase inhibition by N-alkylation of amino sugars

The synthetic amino sugar 1,4-dideoxy-1,4-imino-L-allitol (DIA) is a moderately good inhibitor of human liver alpha-D-mannosidases and a weak inhibitor of alpha-L-fucosidase, N-acetyl-beta-D-hexosaminidase and beta-D-mannosidase. Methylation of the ring nitrogen of DIA markedly decreases the inhibition of all the glycosidases except N-acetyl-beta-D-hexosaminidase. N-Benzylation of DIA essentially abolishes all inhibitory activity, except towards alpha-L-fucosidase, which is more strongly inhibited than by either DIA or N-methyl-DIA. This is the first report of a change of specificity of inhibition of a glycosidase inhibitor by substitution of the ring nitrogen.