The physicochemical properties of the $alpha$-amylase inhibitors from black bean and naked barley is Korea were investigated. Preincubation time for maximum inhibition was 30min and no activity change was seen after that time. Optimum pH of the $alpha$-amylase inhibitors from the black bean and naked barley was pH 7.0 and the inhibitory activities were stable in the range of pH 6.0~8.0 in both phosphate and Tris-HCI buffer solutions. Both inhibitors maintained more than 50% of activity after incubation for 17 min at 7$0^{circ}C$. The inhibitors from the black bean and naked barley maintained more than 50% of activities after treatment for 40 min and 30 min with pepsin, and 30 min and 50 min with trypsin, respectively. Both inhibitors functioned via a noncompetitive mechanism and were active against porcine pancreatic and human salivary $alpha$-amylases. The activities of both inhibitors were linear for the ionic stength ranging from 0 to 0.9. The addition of 70 mM maltose to the reaction mixture caused a maximum increase in the relative activities of both inhibitors, but it did not affect the dissociation of the EI complex. The activities of both inhibitors were significantly enhanced by adding 1mM of K+ or Mg2+.