Novel O-glycosyl amino acid mimetics as building blocks for O-glycopeptides act as inhibitors of galactosidases.

As potential lead structures for a new class of glycosidase inhibitors the novel O-glycosyl amino acid mimetics 3'-O-[2,6-anhydro-D-glycero-L-gluco-heptitol-1-yl]-L-serine 3 and-L-threonine 4 were synthesized, employing regio- and stereoselective aziridine ring opening methodology. They proved to be stable in the presence of glycosidases and showed competitive inhibition of alpha-galactosidase from Aspergillus niger.