Carbonic anhydrase inhibitors: allylsulfonamide, styrene sulfonamide, N-allyl sulfonamides and some of their Si, Ge, and B derivatives.

Unsubstituted aromatic, heterocyclic and perfluoroalkylic sulfonamides possessing the general formula RSO2NH2 act as powerful inhibitors of the zinc enzyme carbonic anhydrase (CA). Unsaturated primary/substituted sulfonamides have never been investigated for their interaction with the enzyme. Here it is shown that such compounds, and more precisely allyl-sulfonamide and trans-styrene sulfonamide possessing the above general formula (with R=CH2=CH-CH2- and C6H5-CH=CH-, respectively) behave as nanomolar inhibitors of the physiologically relevant isozymes CAI and CAII. Some other derivatives of these two leads (incorporating Si(IV), Ge(IV) and B(III) moieties among others) were also synthesized and investigated for their interaction with CA, but showed decreased affinity for both isozymes. The structure-activity relationship for this class of CA inhibitors is discussed. Furthermore, it was observed that allylsulfonyl chloride is a strong CA inactivator, probably by reacting with amino acid residues critical for the catalytic cycle.