The relative potencies of a wide variety of deoxygenated derivatives of the methyl glycoside of α-L-Fuc-(1 → 2)-β-D-Gal-(1 → 4)- β-D-GlcNAc (the H-type 2 human blood group related trisaccharide) for the inhibition of the binding of an artificial H-type 2 antigen by the lectin I ofUlexeuropaeusconfirmed the previous evidence that the key and productive interaction involves only the three hydroxyl groups of the α-L-fucose unit, the hydroxyl at the 3-position of the β-D-galactose residue, and the nonpolar groups in their immediate environment. Except for the acetamido group and the hydroxymethyl of the β-D-Gal unit, which stay in the aqueous phase, on complex formation the remaining three hydroxyl groups appear to come to reside at or near the periphery of the combining site since their replacement by hydrogen causes relatively small changes (< ± 1 kcal/mol) in the stability of the complex (ΔG0). Relatively much larger but compensating changes occur for the enthalpy and entropy terms, and these may arise primarily from the differences in the water structure about the periphery of the combining site and the oligosaccharide both prior to and after complexation. It is proposed that steric constraints lead to an ordered state of the water molecules hydrogen-bonded to the polar groups within the cleft formed by the key region of the amphiphilic combining site. Their release to form less ordered clusters of more strongly hydrogen-bonded water molecules in bulk solution would contribute importantly to the driving force for complexation. It is demonstrated that the surface used for the binding of H-type 2-OMe by a monoclonal anti-H antibody is virtually identical to that used by theUlexlectin.Keywords: molecular recognition, H-type 2 blood group determinant and deoxygenated derivatives, lectin I ofUlexeuropaeus, anti-H-type 2 monoclonal antibody, enthalpy–entropy compensation.