What is the functional group in amines?
What are the functional groups in amino acids?
How does an R group determine if an amino acid is acidic, basic, or nonpolar?
2006-10-13 15:02:59 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Chemistry
For amines, the functional group is -NH2.
For Amino Acids, there are at least two functional groups, one amine group (-NH2) and a carboxylic acid group (-COOH). These groups exist on the same carbon atom. In aqueous solution, these usually exist as zwitter ions (-NH3+) and (-COO-).
The general formula for an amino acid is:
H2N-CHR-COOH
The R- Group is attached to the same Carbon atom as the amino and carboxylic acid group. Different amino acids have different R groups.
If the R group has an acid group on it (like R = -CH2COOH for aspartic acid), the amino acid is acidic.
If the R group has an amino group (like R = -CH2CH2CH2CH2NH2 for Lysine) the amino acid is basic.
If the R group is non-polar (like R - -CH3 for alanine), then the amino acid is non-polar.
2006-10-13 17:26:27 · answer #1 · answered by Richard 7 · 64⤊ 0⤋
Aminoacids. From their name they consist of carboxylic acid (-COOH) and amino (-NH2) groups.
The ionization is:
R-COOH <--------> R-COO- + H+
R-NH3+ <---------> R-NH2 + H+
The equilibrium reactions, as written, demonstrate that amino acids contain at least two weakly acidic groups.
However, the carboxyl group is a far stronger acid than the amino group. At physiological pH (around 7.4) the carboxyl group will be unprotonated and the amino group will be protonated. An amino acid with no ionizable R-group would be electrically neutral at this pH. This species is termed a zwitterion.
2006-10-13 16:39:57 · answer #2 · answered by Dr. J. 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
=NH2 is the functional group in amines
You have to look at the R group and determin if it is a proton donor, or a proton acceptor to determine the properties of an amino acid.
2006-10-13 15:13:44 · answer #3 · answered by Robert 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I'll be a turtle catcher - that sounds quite nice! Unless there's some negative connotation or alternative meaning that is going right over my head ;o)) Sorry I didn't vote for you but I kinda figured you wouldn't need it.
2016-03-28 08:19:42 · answer #4 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Amines: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amines
Amino acids: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amino_acid
R group: http://www.chemaxon.com/jchem/doc/user/RGroupDecomposition.html
2006-10-13 21:01:15 · answer #5 · answered by Andreja K 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋