Iminosugars are nitrogen-containing sugar analogs that are potent inhibitors of carbohydrate
processing enzymes involved in various (metabolic) diseases. Due to their ability to interact with these
enzymes, these modified sugars were identified as potential therapeutics for Alzheimers disease as
well as metabolic disorders such as diabetes. On top of that, they show anti-tumor, anti-viral and anti-
bacterial properties. These remarkable biological activities motivated many research groups to explain
the biological properties of iminosugars and, to develop methods for the synthesis of these
compounds. Despite these research efforts, the influence of the three-dimensional shape (the
conformation) of iminosugars on the biological activity as well as the preparation (synthesis) of these
molecules is still poorly understood. To overcome this shortcoming, this project is dedicated to the
investigation of the conformational behavior of iminosugars by employing a computational assisted
method. The working group of Prof. Codeé recently introduced this technique in a different context,
which provides an ideal foundation to pursue these research aims.