Conformational Analysis of Heparin-Analogue Pentasaccharides by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy and Molecular Dynamics Simulations

Elucidation and improvement of the blood coagulant properties of heparin are the focus of intense research. In this study, we performed conformational analysis using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations on the heparin pentasaccharide analogue idraparinux, its disulfonatomethyl analogue, which features a slightly improved blood coagulation property, and a trisulfonatomethyl analogue, in which the activity has been totally abolished. As the ring conformation of the G subunit has been suggested as a major determinant of the biological properties, we analyzed the sugar ring conformations and dynamics of the interglycosidic linkages. We found that the conformation of the G ring is dominated by the S-2(O) skewed boat next to the C-1(4) chair in all three derivatives. Both the thermodynamics and the kinetics of the conformational states were found to be highly similar in the three derivatives. Molecular kinetic analysis showed that the S-2(O) skewed boat state of the G ring is equally favorable in the three analogues, resulting in similar S-2(O) populations. Also, the transition kinetics from the C-1(4) chair to the S-2(O) skewed boat was found to be comparable in the derivatives, which indicates a similar energy barrier between the two states of the G subunit. We also identified a slower conformational transition between the dominant C-4(1) chair and the boat conformations on the E subunit. Both G and E ring flips are also accompanied by changes along the interglycosidic linkages, which take place highly synchronously with the ring flips. These findings indicate that conformational plasticity of the G ring and the dominance of the S-2(O) skewed boat populations do not necessarily warrant the biological activity of the derivatives and hence the impact of other factors also needs to be considered.