In contrast to most lectins, glycosidases may appear to be unpromising targets for multivalent binding because they display only a single active site. To explore the potential of multivalency on glycosidase inhibition, unprecedented cyclodextrin-based iminosugar conjugates have been designed and prepared. The synthesis was performed by way of Cu(I) -catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition reaction under microwave activation between propargylated multivalent β-cyclodextrins and an azide-armed N-alkyl 1-deoxynojirimycin derivative. Evaluation with a panel of glycosidases of this new class of glycomimetic clusters revealed the strongest affinity enhancement observed to date for a multivalent glycosidase inhibitor, with binding enhancement up to four orders of magnitude over the corresponding monovalent ligand for α-mannosidase. These results demonstrate that the multivalency concept extends beyond carbohydrate-lectin recognition processes to glycomimetic-enzyme inhibition.

Superball! A dodecavalent iminosugar derivative with a fullerene core (see picture) shows a binding enhancement of up to three orders of magnitude over the corresponding monovalent ligand in glycosidase inhibition assays. This is the first evidence of a significant multivalent effect in glycosidase inhibition.

Superball! Ein dodekavalentes Iminozucker‐Derivat mit einem Fulleren‐Kern (siehe Bild) zeigt in Versuchen zur Glycosidase‐Inhibition eine um bis zu drei Größenordnungen bessere Bindung als der entsprechende monovalente Ligand. Dies ist der erste Beleg für einen signifikanten Multivalenzeffekt bei der Glycosidase‐Inhibition.

Biomimetic nanoparticles prepared by self-assembly of iminosugar-based glycopolypeptides evidenced remarkable multivalency properties when inhibiting α-mannosidase activity. This approach paves the way to obtain biologically active drug delivery systems having glycosidase inhibition potency.

Seven‐arm chaperone: A modest μM inhibitor of glucosylceramide β‐glucosidase (GCase) has been transformed into a potent low‐nM inhibitor by multivalency. This iminosugar inhibitor acts as a pharmacological chaperone and increases residual GCase activity in fibroblasts from Gaucher patients. These results open the way to a new class of chaperones for the treatment of lysosomal diseases.

Cystic fibrosis is caused by a mutation in the gene for the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) protein. N-butyl 1-deoxynojirimycin (N-Bu DNJ), a clinical candidate for the treatment of cystic fibrosis, is able to act as a CFTR corrector by overcoming the processing defect of the mutant protein. To explore the potential of multivalency on CFTR correction activity, a library of twelve DNJ click clusters with valencies ranging from 3 to 14 were synthesized. Significantly, the trivalent analogues were found to be up to 225-fold more potent than N-Bu DNJ and up to 1000-fold more potent than the corresponding monovalent models. These results provide the first description of a multivalent effect for correcting protein folding defects in cells and should have application for the treatment of a number of protein folding disorders. Preliminary mechanistic studies indicated that CFTR correction activity enhancement was not due to a multivalent effect in ER-glucosidase inhibition or to a different mode of action of the multivalent iminosugars.

In view of recent reports of a strong multivalent effect in glycosidase inhibition, a library of β-CD-based multivalent iminosugars has been efficiently synthesized by way of Cu(I) -catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC). In combination with the first application of isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) experiments to the study of multivalent iminosugar-enzyme interactions, the inhibition properties of these click clusters were evaluated on a panel of glycosidases. The structural parameters that were varied include valency, peripheral ligand structure, and topology. The inhibition results obtained with the iminosugar clusters further highlight the importance of multivalency in the inhibition of α-mannosidase. Generally, the evaluated multivalent iminosugars displayed comparable thermodynamic signatures of binding towards α-mannosidase (Jack bean): that is, large negative enthalpies of complexation coupled with small entropies of either sign. In addition, the enthalpy-entropy compensation observed in all tested cases may be attributed to a common mechanism of dissociation for the enzyme-multivalent iminosugar interactions. The measured binding stoichiometries indicated that each iminosugar cluster interacts with no more than one protein molecule.

A series of 18 mono- to 14-valent iminosugars with different ligands, scaffolds, and alkyl spacer lengths have been synthesized and evaluated as inhibitors and pharmacological chaperones of β-glucocerebrosidase (GCase). Small but significant multivalent effects in GCase inhibition have been observed for two iminosugar clusters. Our study provides strong confirmation that compounds that display the best affinity for GCase are not necessarily the best chaperones. The best chaperoning effect observed for a deprotected iminosugar cluster has been obtained with a tetravalent 1-deoxynojirimycin (DNJ) analogue (3.3-fold increase at 10 μM). In addition, our study provides the first evidence of the high potential of prodrugs for the development of potent pharmacological chaperones. Acetylation of a trivalent DNJ derivative, to give the corresponding acetate prodrug, leads to a pharmacological chaperone that produces higher enzyme activity increases (3.0-fold instead of 2.4-fold) at a cellular concentration (1 μM) reduced by one order of magnitude.