A series of aromatic, arylalkenyl- and arylalkyl boronic acids were assayed as inhibitors of four physiologically relevant carbonic anhydrase (CA, EC 4.2.1.1) isoforms, the cytosolic human (h) hCA I and II, and the transmembrane, tumor-associated hCA IX and XII. The best hCA I and II inhibitor was biphenyl boronic acid with, a K(I) of 3.7-4.5 microM, whereas the remaining derivatives showed inhibition constants in the range of 6.0-1560 microM for hCA I and of 6.0-1050 microM for hCA II, respectively. hCA IX and XII were effectively inhibited by most of the aromatic boronic acids (K(I)s of 7.6-12.3 microM) whereas the arylalkenyl and aryl-alkyl derivatives generally showed weaker inhibitory properties (K(I)s of 34-531 microM). The nature of the moiety substituting the boronic acid group strongly influenced the CA inhibitory activity, with inhibitors possessing low micromolar to millimolar activity being detected in this small series of investigated compounds. This study proves that the B(OH)(2) moiety represents a new zinc-binding group for the generation of effective CA inhibitors targeting isoforms with medicinal chemistry applications. The boronic acids probably bind to the Zn(II) ion within the CA active site leading to a tetrahedral geometry of the metal ion and of the B(III) derivative.