Q.Tyrosine, tryptophan, phenylalanine are
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Picture a single carbon atom standing at the centre of a molecule with four arms reaching out, each arm gripping something different. That central carbon, and what it holds, is the whole idea of an amino acid.
An amino acid is an organic compound that carries two special groups — an amino group and an acidic carboxyl group — attached to the same carbon. Because that shared carbon is the first, or alpha, carbon, these molecules are called alpha-amino acids. It helps to think of an amino acid as a substituted methane: the central carbon has four positions, and they are occupied by:
- a hydrogen atom,
- a carboxyl group (COOH), the acidic part,
- an amino group (NH2), the basic part, and
- a variable side chain called the R group.
The three fixed groups are the same in every amino acid; it is the R group that changes. That single variable is why so many different amino acids are possible, though only twenty of them occur in proteins. When the R group is just a hydrogen you get glycine, when it is a methyl group you get alanine, when it is a hydroxy-methyl group you get serine, and so on. Depending on how many amino and carboxyl groups they carry, amino acids can be acidic (such as glutamic acid), basic (such as lysine) or neutral (such as valine), and some, like tyrosine and phenylalanine, are aromatic.
A special trait follows from having both an NH2 and a COOH group: both can ionize. So the exact form an amino acid takes changes with the pH of its surroundings, and one such form carries a positive and a negative charge at the same time — the zwitterionic form. …
Amino acids are grouped by the chemical nature of their side chain (R group). Tyrosine, tryptophan and phenylalanine all carry a ring-shaped side chain. …
Tyrosine, tryptophan and phenylalanine are aromatic amino acids.
Amino acids are classified by their side chain (R group) as acidic (e.g. glutamic acid, aspartic acid), basic (e.g. lysine, arginine), neutral, or aromatic. Tyrosine, tryptophan and phenylalanine each contain …
- CBSE 2025Set ANN2 marksQ.(a) Draw the structure of(i) Glycerol(ii) Serine(b) Name the given(iii) Most abundant protein in animal world(iv) Two aromatic amino acids
›Reveal solutionSolution
Glycerol is a 3-carbon triol (CH2OH-CHOH-CH2OH), serine is HOOC-CH(NH2)-CH2OH; the most abundant animal protein is collagen and two aromatic amino acids are phenylalanine and tyrosine.
(a) Structures (written in line-formula form):
- (i) Glycerol - a trihydroxy alcohol with three carbons: CH2OH-CHOH-CH2OH (top and bottom carbons each bear one -OH, the middle carbon bears one -OH).
- (ii) Serine - an amino acid: a central (alpha) carbon bonded to COOH, NH2, H and the side chain CH2OH, i.e. HOOC-CH(NH2)-CH2OH.
(b) Naming: …
- CBSE 2023Set ANNUAL2 marksQ.Explain the Zwitterionic form of an amino acid.
›Reveal solutionSolution
The zwitterion is the dipolar-ion form of an amino acid, in which the amino group is protonated (–NH3⁺) and the carboxyl group is deprotonated (–COO⁻) simultaneously.
Every amino acid has the general structure R–CH(NH2)–COOH, with both an acidic carboxyl group (–COOH) and a basic amino group (–NH2) attached to the same alpha-carbon.
In aqueous solution (and in the solid crystalline state), these two functional groups react with each other intramolecularly:
- The carboxyl group (–COOH) donates a proton (H⁺) and becomes negatively charged: –COO⁻
- The amino group (–NH2) accepts that proton and becomes positively charged: –NH3⁺
The resulting structure, R–CH(NH3⁺)–COO⁻, carries both a positive charge and a negative charge at the same time, yet the molecule as a whole is electrically neutral (the charges cancel out). This dipolar, doubly-charged-yet-neutral form is called the zwitterion (from German "zwitter" = hybrid).
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- CBSE 2023Set ANN2 marksQ.General structure of amino acid is given : [Figure shown in the original paper] Draw the structure of the amino acids,(a) glycine and(b) Serine.
›Reveal solutionSolution
Both amino acids follow the general structure H2N–CH(R)–COOH shown in the figure; glycine has R = H (the simplest amino acid) and serine has R = –CH2OH (a hydroxyl-bearing side chain).
As only text can be shown here, the structures are represented linearly, following the same layout as the given general formula (COOH on top, central carbon bonded to H and NH2, R group below):
(a) Glycine (R = H):
COOH | H — C — NH2 | H ``` … - CBSE 2021Set ANN2 marksQ.Write the structure of(a) Alanine(b) Glycine
›Reveal solutionSolution
Both are amino acids built on the same core plan -- a central (alpha) carbon bonded to -NH2, -COOH, -H, and a variable R group -- with R = -CH3 for alanine and R = -H for glycine.
Every amino acid has a general structure: a central carbon (the alpha-carbon) attached to four groups -- an amino group (-NH2), a carboxyl group (-COOH), a hydrogen atom (-H), and a side chain/R group that differs between amino acids and gives each its identity.
(a) Alanine has R = -CH3 (a methyl group). Its structure is CH3-CH(NH2)-COOH, i.e. the alpha-carbon carries -NH2, -COOH, -H, and -CH3.
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- CBSE 2019Set ANNUAL2 marksQ.Glycine and Alanine are different with respect to one substituent on α (Alpha) carbon. What are those substituent groups ?
›Reveal solutionSolution
Amino acids differ in their R-group attached to the central (α) carbon; Glycine's R group is –H, Alanine's is –CH₃.
Every amino acid has a general structure with a central α-carbon bonded to: an amino group (–NH₂), a carboxyl group (–COOH), a hydrogen atom (–H), and a variable R group (side chain) that determines the amino acid's identity and properties.
- Glycine: R group = –H (hydrogen atom). This is the simplest amino acid and, because of this, glycine is not optically active (it is the only amino acid without a chiral α-carbon). …
- CBSE 2018Set ANN2 marksQ.The molecular structure of 2 amino acids are given below. Name them.
›Reveal solutionSolution
Both are amino acids; the one with a CH2OH side chain is serine and the one with a CH3 side chain is alanine.
An amino acid has a central (alpha) carbon bonded to a carboxyl group (COOH), an amino group (NH2), a hydrogen atom, and a variable side chain called the R group. The identity of the amino acid is decided by its R group.
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