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2.2F: Amino Acid Structures

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    1341
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    It is a good idea to have a general idea of the structure of the different amino acids and to be able to recognize them as amino acids. You are not expected to memorize these structures. Often I say the name of amino acids and not all students understand that I am talking about an amino acid. Each amino acid differs only by its side group, which is circled in red in each figure below. Also, the more familiar you become with chemical structures, the more prepared you will be for later classes.

    Figure 2.261.png

    Figure 2.261 Essential amino acids

    You may hear someone talk about the branch chain amino acids, which are all essential amino acids, but they are singled out in the figure below.

    Figure 2.262 .png

    Figure 2.262 Branched chain amino acids

    Figure 2.263 .png

    Figure 2.263 Conditionally essential amino acids

    Figure 2.264A.png

    Figure 2.264B.png

    Figure 2.264 Nonessential amino acids

    References & Links

    1. en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Histid..._Histidine.svg
    2. en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Isoleu...Isoleucine.svg
    3. en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Leucin...e_Nonionic.svg
    4. en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysine...D-skeletal.png
    5. en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Methio...Methionine.svg
    6. en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenyl...nylalanine.svg
    7. en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Threon...eonineasdf.png
    8. en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Trypto...Tryptophan.svg
    9. en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Valine...notatpH7.4.png
    10. en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Argini...-_Arginine.svg
    11. en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Cystei...L-Cysteine.svg
    12. en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Glutam...-Glutamine.svg
    13. en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycin..._-_Glycine.svg
    14. en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Prolin..._-_Proline.svg
    15. en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyrosi...L-Tyrosine.svg
    16. en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Alanin..._L-Alanine.svg
    17. en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspara...Asparagine.svg
    18. en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspart...tic_Acidph.png
    19. en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Glutam..._Non-ionic.png
    20. en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Serine...-_L-Serine.svg

    This page titled 2.2F: Amino Acid Structures is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Brian Lindshield via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform; a detailed edit history is available upon request.

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