How acidic are monomeric structural units of heparin?

Density functional theory methods with the B3LYP functional have been used to letter the acidity of carboxyl, O-sulfo and N-sulfo groups in six basic monomeric structural units of heparin (1-OMe ΔUA-2S, 1-OMe GlcN-S6S, 1,4-DiOMe GlcA, 1,4-DiOMe GlcN-S3S6S, 1,4-DiOMe IdoA-2S, and 1,4-DiOMe GlcN-S6S). The predicted gas-phase acidity of the acidic functional groups in the monomeric structural units of heparin is: O-sulfo > N-sulfo > carboxyl. The computed pKa values provide the same order of acidity as was observed in water solution. This implies that hydration does not change ordering of acidity of major acidic groups of monomeric structural units of heparin.