Amino Acids

Introduction

Proteins are very big molecules made up of smaller units known as 'Amino Acids'. Amino acids are organic molecules that contain an amino group and a carboxylic acid group. all amino acids have a simple chemical backbone with an amine group (the nitrogen-containing part) at one end. At the other end is the acid part. This backbone is the same for all amino acids. The difference between them depends on a distinctive structure, the chemical side chain that is attached to the backbone. It is the nature of the side chain that gives identity and chemical nature to each amino acid. There are about 20 different naturally occurring amino acids that combine to from proteins of all living tissue. The amino acids that make up proteins differ from fats and carbohydrates in that they contain the element nitrogen.
The amino acids in proteins are called alpha (α)-amino acids because the amino group is attached to the α-carbon connected to any carboxylic acid carbon is termed a α-carbon. amino acids as are generally represented using the following formula:

'R' varie from one amino acid to another. The NH2 part is the amino group and COOH the acid group. The simplest amino acid is glycine,, where 'R' ia a hydrogen atom. In alanine, 'R' is CH3, known as the methyl group.