Inhibition of serine proteases by arylboronic acids.

Arylboronic acids were found to be strong competitive inhibitors of subtilisin and chymotrypsin. The binding constants are strongly pH dependent and give a Hammett-type plot with a slope of -0.885. The pH dependence, the Hammett plot, and nmr model-system studies indicate that inhibition is due to electron-pair donation by the active site histidine to the bound inhibitor.