Amino Acid

An Amino Acid is an organic compound that contains both an amino acid functional group and a carboxylic acid functional group.

• Context:
  • It can be used to create a Protein.
  • It can be a part of an Amino Acid Sequence.
  • …
• Example(s):
  • Arginine.
  • Tryptophan.
  • …
• See: Imino Acid.

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References

2009

• Wiktionary http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/amino_acid
  • 1. (organic chemistry) Any organic compound containing both an amino and a carboxylic acid functional group.
  • 2. (biochemistry) Any of the twenty naturally occurring α-amino acids (having the amino, and carboxylic acid groups on the same carbon atom), and a variety of side chains, that combine, via peptide bonds, to form proteins.

2009

• (Wikipedia, 2009) ⇒ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/amino_acid
  • In chemistry, an amino acid is a molecule containing both amine and carboxyl functional groups. These molecules are particularly important in biochemistry, where this term refers to alpha-amino acids with the general formula H2NCHRCOOH, where R is an organic substituent. [1] In the alpha amino acids, the amino and carboxylate groups are attached to the same carbon, which is called the α–carbon. The various alpha amino acids differ in which side chain (R group) is attached to their alpha carbon. They can vary in size from just a hydrogen atom in glycine through a methyl group in alanine to a large heterocyclic group in tryptophan.

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