AMINO ACIDS &

PEPTIDES
(INDIVIDUALLY)
Aileen B. Luzon
 AT THE END OF THE LESSON, THE
STUDENTS ARE EXPECTED TO
Classify the different groups of amino acids.
Differentiate nonpolar hydrophobic, polar charge
hydrophilic, and polar uncharged hydrophilic.
Determine if an amino acid is acid or a base.
 AMINO ACIDS: STRUCTURES AND
CHEMICAL PROPERTIES
 Amino acids are classified into several different groups based on shared chemical properties.
 Two of theses are of critical importance
Polar vs nonpolar
Basic vs acidic

 Polar side chains love water and can engage in H-bond with water
 Nonpolar side chains are excluded by water
 basic side chains absorb/accept protons (giving a + charge)
 Acidic side chains donate protons (giving a - charge)

 Amino acids have short-hand names (or nicknames)

 AMINO ACIDS: STRUCTURES AND
CHEMICAL PROPERTIES
 Non-polar Amino Acids

- Glycine, Alanine, Valine, Leucine, Isoleucine, Proline, Phenylalanine, Tryptophan, and Methionine.
A subset of this group (A, V, L, I) have aliphatic side
chains
this means they tend to be linear.

Proline is unique – the amino group itself is involved in

making a ring with the cyclized side chain.

Tryptophan & Phenylalanine contain nonpolar rings,

while Methionine contains sulfur.
 POLAR AMINO ACIDS - UNCHARGED
 There are amino acids with full charges and with partial charges due to polar
bonds – both classes are hydrophilic.
 Serine, Threonine, Tyrosine, Cysteine, Glutamine, and Asparagine
 POLAR AMINO ACIDS - UNCHARGED
 Cysteine is a hugely important amino acid
The thiol group (-SH) is not only polar, it also does something uniquely
special.
 When oxidized (stripped of their protons) Cysteine side chains can
COVALENTLY bond together – in pairs – forming disulfide bridges
 POLAR AMINO ACIDS - UNCHARGED
 Asparagine and Glutamine are very similar to each other (differ only in a
methyl group) and contain amide groups (-NH2)
- Remember: Oxygen & Nitrogen are electronegative and steal electrons from
their bonds with hydrogen becoming polar.
 POLAR AMINO ACIDS - CHARGED
 Glutamic acid and aspartic acid are precursors (give rise to) glutamine and
asparagine, respectively.
 At neutral pH, they both lose the protons from carboxyl groups in their side
chains (hence their being acids) and become negatively charged aspartate and
glutamate, respectively
 POLAR AMINO ACIDS - CHARGED
 Histidine, lysine, and arginine have basic side chains that are positively
charged at neutral pH –they have accepted protons
 UNCOMMON AMINO ACIDS
 The standard line is that only the 20 amino acids we’ve just discussed are found in proteins.
Not true

• Other amino acids are often found in proteins, but what is important is that they are almost derived from
one of the 20 normal amino acids and usually modified after the proteins is made.
 SUMMAR
Y
Amino acids are classified into several different groups:
Nonpolar (hydrophobic)
Polar, uncharged (Hydrophilic)
Polar, charged (hydrophilic)
Includes the acidic and basic amino acids
• All amino acids are acids and bases