Amino Acid

ScienceTopping | Aug 26, 2021

Let's begin our journey to the world of amino acids. If you are still wondering what they are, the brief yet clean answer is the smallest unit or building block of protein. Protein is essential for growth and repair of body tissues.

Understanding amino acid is the first leap towards the journey of exploring mysterious Science, as without amino acid, life does not exist.

Chemical Formula of Amino Acid, NH2CHRCOOH

The general chemical formula of amino acid is NH₂CHRCOOH.

Let's understand the general chemical formula of amino acid. Referring to the diagram above, NH₂ (green region) is the amine group; COOH (yellow region) is carboxyl group; H is hydrogen; R (red region) is the R group which can be substituted with different side chain. The side chain can be just H, making NH₂CH₂COOH to be glycine, the smallest amino acid molecule. On the other hand, the side chain, R can also be CH₂OH, making NH₂CH(CH₂OH)COOH to be serine.

Note that the bracket used in chemical formula above for alanine is the formal way of writing side chain for chemical formula in the Chemistry field. Meanwhile, it is actually optional, but the bracket makes the side chain even more obvious, especially for molecule with complex structure. You may look for more examples of chemical formula to understand it better if you are not used to it.

As suggested by its name, amino acid is a type of acid. Amino acids are categorised into two main groups, which are

essential amino acids
nonessential amino acids

Essential amino acids cannot be produced by your body, while nonessential amino acids are those that can be produced by our body. Therefore, the only way to obtain these essential amino acids is to be supplemented via diet. For those who take Science stream courses, you may have learned that there are nine essential amino acids and 11 nonessential amino acids, with a total of 20 types.

Essential Amino Acids
Histidine
Isoleucine
Leucine
Lysine
Methionine
Phenylalanine
Threonine
Tryptophan
Valine

Nonessential Amino Acids
Alanine
Arginine *
Asparagine *
Aspartic Acid
Cysteine *
Glutamine *
Glutamic Acid
Glycine *
Proline *
Serine *
Tyrosine *

Alright, you may have spotted asterisks(*) right beside some of the amino acids' names. Here we come to a more advanced level, whereby there are eight conditionally nonessential amino acids out of the 11 nonessential amino acids. Conditionally non-essential amino acids are those that are affected by one's health condition in terms of production. Provided that healthy diet and external environment exist, these amino acids can be produced normally.

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