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Amino Acid Structure

We divide amino acids into four general categories (with two special cases).
  • 1. Hydrophobic, which have nonpolar side chains that are usually aliphatic. Aliphatic means the side chains they have only have carbon and hydrogen atoms in their R groups (and no resonance).
  • 2. Aromatic, which have one or more aromatic rings in the side chains.
  • 3. Polar, which have polar, uncharged side chains.
  • 4. Charged, which have either positively or negatively charged side chains
  • 5. And the special cases: glycine (its R group is a hydrogen atom), and proline
  • 20 amino acids coded for in our genome.
  • General structure = Central alpha carbon bound to: Hydrogen atom, Carboxylic acid group, Amino group, Variable R Group (differentiates the AA).