A series of phosphonic analogues of tyrosine and 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (dopa) were synthesized in order to study their interaction with mushroom tyrosinase. 1-Amino-2-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)ethylphosphonic acid and 1-amino-2-(3,4-dimethoxyphenyl)ethylphosphonic acid turned out to be substrates for mushroom tyrosinase with Km values of 3.3 mM and 9.3 mM respectively. Shortening of the alkyl chain by one methylene group gave amino-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)methylphosphonic acid, one of the most powerful known inhibitors of this enzyme. This compound, racemic as well as in its optically active forms, exerts a mixed type of inhibition with an affinity for the enzyme one order of magnitude greater than that of the natural substrate.