Fluorescently tagged iminoalditol glycosidase inhibitors as novel biological probes and diagnostics.

1,5-Dideoxy-1,5-imino-D-glucitol, the corresponding D-manno and L-ido epimers as well as the powerful b-glucosidase inhibitor isofagomine were N-alkylated with di-, tri-, as well as tetraethylene glycol derived straight chain spacer arms by a set of simple standard procedures. The terminal functional groups of the spacer arms, primary amines, were employed to introduce fluorescent dansyl moieties. Resulting derivatives showed glycosidase inhibitory activities comparable to those of the parent compounds.