Structural and Electronic Characteristics of a Series of Glycosidase Inhibitors

Molecular orbital calculations are used to determine structural and electronic characteristics of a series of sugar mimics, which are correlated with experimentally determined activity toward glycosidases. Differences in activity between α- and β-glycosidase correlate to the position of the HOMO surface of the neutral form of the inhibitor. A correlation is also found between relative activity and energy of the HOMO.