A Moenomycin-type Structural Analogue of Lipid II some possible mechanisms of the mode of action of transglycosylase inhibitors can be discarded

Abstract

The transglycosylation step in the peptidoglycan biosynthesis belongs to the general class of glycosyltransferase-catalyzed reactions. The structural analogue 2 of moenomycin A has been synthesized and has been found to be antibiotically inactive. The assumption that moenomycin-type transglycosylase inhibitors such as 1 bind at the donor site of the enzyme and that their mode of action is the result of the high stability of the sugar phosphate bond seems to be ruled out by the present results.