J. Biochem, 1998, Vol. 123, No. 3 416-422
© 1998 Japanese Biochemical Society
research-article |
New Imidazoles as Probes of the Active Site Topology and Potent Inhibitors of ß-Glucosidase1
Department of Applied Chemistry, The National Chiao Tung University Hsinchu, Taiwan 30050
2To whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel: +886-3-5731985, Fax: +886-3-5723764, E-mail: ykl{at}cc.nctu.edu.tw
Series of 4-arylimidazoles, 
-N-acylhistamines and 4-(-phenylalkyl) imidazoles were synthesized in order to probe the active site topology of sweet almond ß-glucosidase. These imidazole derivatives were shown to be very powerful competitive inhibitors. Among the 20 tested compounds, -N-benzoylhistamine and 4-(3'-phenylpropyl)imidazole are the most potent inhibitors of the enzyme, with pH-independent K1 values of 0.06 and 0.07 µM, respectively. The inhibition of 4- (-phenylalkyl) imidazoles exhibited an interesting trend as to K1 values: 4-phenylimidazole (6.6 µM)>4-benzylimidazole (1.4 µM)>4-(2'-phenylethyl)imidazole (0.82 µM)>4-(3'-phenylpropyl)imidazole (0.07 µM)<4-(4'-phenylbutyl)imidazole (0.13 µM)<4-(5'-phenylpentyl)imidazole (0.3 µM). This revealed that the imidazole and aryl binding sites (which result from favorable interactions within the corresponding glycone and aglycone binding subsites) are separated by the optimal distance equivalent to the length of a -CH2-CH2-CH2- group. Substitutions of the phenyl moieties of 4-phenylimidazole and 4-benzoylhistamine result in weaker inhibition. These classes of imidazoles are particularly powerful inhibitors of sweet almond ß-glucosidase.
1This work was supported by grant NSC-84-2113-M-009-007 from the National Science Council of the Republic of China.