Amino acid (idea)

Amino Acids - the building blocks of Protein

• All have the same fundamental structure
  • Central Carbon Atom bonded to an amino group (-NH₂) to a carboxyl group (-COOH) and to a hydrogen atom
  • In every amino acid there is also another atom or group of atoms designated by (-R)
  • A large variety is possible, but only twenty different kinds are used to build proteins.
  • The only difference in proteins is their (-R) group.
• Example of condensation: Amino "head" of one amino acid can be linked to the carboxyl tail of another by removal of a molecule of water (Peptide bond).
  • forms dipeptide or polypeptide
  • sequence of amino acids in polypeptide chain determines the characters of the protein molecule.

    R            R
    |            |
H-N-C-C-OH   H-N-C-C-OH
  | | ||       | | ||
  H H O        H H O

H₂O is extracted from the molecules in the middle and a single bond is formed. A peptide bond is a covalent bond formed by condensation.

    R     R
    |     |
H-N-C-C-N-C-C-OH
  | | ||| | ||
  H H O H H O

I wish there were a better way to do this, the Hydrogen is single-bonded to the nitrogen and the Oxygen shares a double bond with the Carbon.