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Magazine Chapter 4: 7CP (page 91)
Identify all the chiral carbons in the amino acids shown in Table 4-1.
Short Answer
All the 20 standard amino acids contain at least one chiral carbon, except for glycine, because it contains two hydrogen atoms attached to its 伪-carbon atom. Amino acid isoleucine and threonine contain two chiral carbons.
Step by step solution
Definition of chiral carbons
Chiral molecules are the ones that are non-superimposable with their mirror images. The central atom in chiral molecules is called the chiral center.
Chiral carbon is the central carbon atoms attached to 4 different groups or substituents. The 伪-carbon in amino acids are the chiral carbons as they are attached to 4 groups, i.e., a carboxylic acid group, an amino group, a hydrogen atom, and a side chain.
Amino acids with chiral carbon
The chiral carbon in each amino acid is marked bysign.
Name | Structure and chiral carbon | Number of chiral carbon |
Glycine | 0 | |
Alanine | 1 | |
Valine | 1 | |
Leucine | 1 | |
Isoleucine | 2 | |
Methionine | 1 | |
Proline | 1 | |
Phenylalanine | 1 |
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