Transferred nuclear Overhauser effect and rotating-frame Overhauser enhancement NMR spectroscopies are used to probe the conformation of a bicyclic sulfonium ion, which is an analogue of the naturally occurring glycosidase inhibitor castanospermine, bound to the enzyme glucoamylase G2. Enzyme inhibition assays indicate that the bicyclic sulfonium ion is a slightly better inhibitor (K-i = 1.32 mM) of glucoamylase G2 than the naturally occurring sulfonium-ion glycosidase inhibitor, salacinol, with a K-i value of 1.7 mM. The NMR results are interpreted in terms of the selection by the enzyme of a high-energy conformation of the ligand that is already represented in the ensemble of free-ligand conformations.