N-Alkyl-, 1-C-Alkyl-, and 5-C-Alkyl-1,5-dideoxy-1,5-imino-(l)-ribitols as Galactosidase Inhibitors

A series of 1,5-dideoxy-1,5-imino-(l)-ribitol (DIR) derivatives carrying alkyl or functionalized alkyl groups were prepared and investigated as glycosidase inhibitors. These compounds were designed as simplified 4-epi-isofagomine (4-epi-IFG) mimics and were expected to behave as selective inhibitors of β-galactosidases. All compounds were indeed found to be highly selective for β-galactosidases versus α-glycosidases, as they generally did not inhibit coffee bean α-galactosidase or other α-glycosidases. Some compounds were also found to be inhibitors of almond β-glucosidase. The N-alkyl DIR derivatives were only modest inhibitors of bovine β-galactosidase, with IC50 values in the 30-700 μM range. Likewise, imino-L-ribitol substituted at the C1 position was found to be a weak inhibitor of this enzyme. In contrast, alkyl substitution at C5 resulted in enhanced β-galactosidase inhibitory activity by a factor of up to 1000, with at least six carbon atoms in the alkyl substituent. Remarkably, the 'pseudo-anomeric' configuration in this series does not appear to play a role. Human lysosomal β-galactosidase from leukocyte lysate was, however, poorly inhibited by all iminoribitol derivatives tested (IC50 values in the 100 μM range), while 4-epi-IFG was a good inhibitor of this enzyme. Two compounds were evaluated as pharmacological chaperones for a GM1-gangliosidosis cell line (R301Q mutation) and were found to enhance the mutant enzyme activity by factors up to 2.7-fold.