The compound 2-amino-2-deoxyglucitol-rP competitively inhibits E. coli gluco~mine-6P synthase with respect to fructose-6P whereas glutamate y-semialdehyde is a competitive inhibitor with respect to glutamine. These compounds, which exhibit good inhibitory properties (Km/Kiffi 16 and 1000 respectively), were used in the synthesis of multisubstrate analogs.