Dual effect of benzyl alcohol on alpha-glucosidase activity: efficient substrate for high yield transglucosylation and non-competitive inhibitor of its hydrolytic activity

Abstract

Benzyl alcohol, a potent anesthetic and bacteriostatic, can be efficiently glucosylated by alpha-glucosidase from Saccharomyces cerevisiae to produce benzyl alcohol alpha-glucoside with a 75% yield. However, while studying the transglucosylation reaction conditions, it was found out that benzyl alcohol is a non-competitive inhibitor of alpha-glucosidase's hydrolytic activity (K-i = 18 mM, toward maltose). Due to its interesting ability to be glycosylated by the enzyme and to inhibit its hydrolytic activity, we proposed a plausible mechanism for the phenolic alpha-glucosydase inhibitor's binding, since the mechanism of inhibition has not yet been elucidated.