Saturation transfer difference NMR for antagonists bound to the CXCR4 receptor in cellular membrane extracts is presented.
Competitive binding between two CXCR4 antagonists using STD NMR is established.
The STD-NMR binding epitope of a small molecule CXCR4 antagonist is identified.
A 3D model consistent with the experimentally-derived epitope is proposed.