In many complexes formed by serine proteinases and their inhibitors, the hydroxyl group provided by water molecule or by the inhibitor Ser residue is located close to the inhibitor P{sub 1}-P{sub 1}{sup '} reactive site. In order to investigate the role of this group, we synthesized analogues of trypsin inhibitor SFTI-1 isolated from the seeds of sunflower modified in P{sub 1} by {alpha}-hydroxymethylserine (HmSer) and both enantiomers of {alpha}-hydroxymethylvaline (HmVal). All the synthesized analogues inhibited bovine {beta}-trypsin and human leukocyte elastase. SFTI-1 analogues with HmVal and HmSer appear to be potent inhibitors of bovine {beta}-trypsin, whereas Val{sup 5}SFTI-1 is practically inactive. Also trypsin inhibitory activity of Ser{sup 5}SFTI-1 is significantly lower. Since the electrostatic interaction between protonated {epsilon}-NH{sub 2} group of the inhibitor P{sub 1} position and {beta}-carboxylate of trypsin Asp{sup 189} is the main driving force for interaction of both molecules, the results obtained are very interesting. We believe that these SFTI-1 analogues belong to a novel class of serine proteinase inhibitors.