ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned specically with structurally simple alkaloids that have two or more hydroxyl groups and which function as sugar analogs, enabling them to cause glycosidase inhibition or allowing them to interact with sugar receptors. These alkaloids can be extremely specic and potent inhibitors of glycosidases but can also induce biological responses through interactions with specic sugar receptors.1,2 Given a number of names such as polyhydroxylated alkaloids, azasugars, imino sugars, or sugar analogs, in their most simple form the ring oxygen of the sugar is replaced by a nitrogen (Figure 15.1).
