The substances are prepared via a Knoevenagel condensation of a thiohydantoin–phenylalanine imine with different aldehydes, which yields a mixture of E and Z isomers.
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2-Epimerase was discovered as a target because it was one of the enzymes in the biosynthetic pathway for synthesizing an essential neutral polysaccharide in the cell wall of B. anthracis (Glu:Gal-NAc:Man-NAc at a 3:2:1 ratio).