Biomolecules

In the intricate tapestry of life, biomolecules serve as the threads that weave
together the fabric of existence. From the majestic sequoias towering over
forests to the microscopic bacteria thriving in diverse ecosystems, all forms of
life rely on these molecular entities for their structure, function, and regulation.
My project embarks on a captivating exploration of biomolecules, delving into
their remarkable diversity, intricate structures, and indispensable roles in
biological systems. Through this journey, we aim to unravel the mysteries of
these fundamental building blocks of life, shedding light on their significance
in understanding the complexities of living organisms.
Biomolecules encompass an array of chemical compounds, including
carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids, each contributing uniquely
to the vitality of living systems. Their interactions orchestrate the myriad
processes essential for life, from energy production and storage to cellular
communication and genetic inheritance.
As we venture deeper into the realm of biomolecules, we will unravel their
structural intricacies, elucidate their dynamic functions, and explore the
cutting-edge research driving our understanding of these molecular marvels.
By illuminating the molecular underpinnings of life, we strive to inspire
curiosity, foster appreciation, and ignite a passion for the fascinating world of
biomolecules.
Biomolecules, ranging from the humble glucose molecule to the majestic DNA
double helix, embody the essence of life, serving as the building blocks,
messengers, and architects of biological complexity. Their intricate interplay
governs essential processes such as metabolism, growth, and reproduction
while also offering tantalizing insight into the evolution of life on Earth.
 Types of Carbohydrates:
• Monosachharide
• Oligosaccharides
• Polysacchasrides

Monosaccharide
Monosaccharides, also called simple sugars, are the simplest forms of sugar
and the most basic units (monomers) from which all carbohydrates are built.
Simply, this is the structural unit of carbohydrates. They are usually colorless,
water-soluble, and crystalline organic solids. Contrary to their name (sugars),
only some monosaccharides have a sweet taste. Most monosaccharides have
the formula (CH2O)x (though not all molecules with this formula are
monosaccharides ) . Examples of monosaccharides include glucose
(dextrose), fructose (levulose), and galactose. Monosaccharides are the
building blocks of disaccharides (such as sucrose, lactose and maltose) and
polysaccharides (such as cellulose and starch). The table sugar used in
everyday vernacular is itself a disaccharide sucrose comprising one molecule
of each of the two monosaccharides d-glucose and dfructose. Each carbon
atom that supports a hydroxyl group is chiral, except those at the end of the
chain. This gives rise to a number of isomeric forms, all with the same
chemical formula. For instance, galactose and glucose are both aldohexoses,
but have different physical structures and chemical properties. The
monosaccharide glucose plays a pivotal role in metabolism, where the
chemical energy is extracted through glycolysis and the citric acid cycle to
provide energy to living organisms. Maltose is the dehydration condensate of
two glucose molecules.
 Carbohydrate
A carbohydrate is a biomolecule consisting of carbon (C), hydrogen (H) and
oxygen (O) atoms, usually with a hydrogen–oxygen atom ratio of 2:1 (as in
water) and thus with the empirical formula Cm(H2O)n (where m may or may
not be different from n), which does not mean the H has covalent bonds with
O (for example with CH2O, H has a covalent bond with C but not with O).
However, not all carbohydrates conform to this precise stoichiometric
definition (e.g., uronic acids, deoxy-sugars such as fucose), nor are all
chemicals that do conform to this definition automatically classified as
carbohydrates (e.g. formaldehyde and acetic acid).
Carbohydrates perform numerous roles in living organisms. Polysaccharides
serve as an energy store (e.g. starch and glycogen) and as structural
components (e.g. cellulose in plants and chitin in arthropods). The 5-carbon
monosaccharide ribose is an important component of coenzymes (e.g. ATP,
FAD and NAD) and the backbone of the genetic molecule known as RNA.
The related deoxyribose is a component of DNA. Saccharides and their
derivatives include many other important biomolecules that play key roles in
the immune system, fertilization, preventing pathogenesis, blood clotting, and
development
Carbohydrates are central to nutrition and are found in a wide variety of
natural and processed foods. Starch is a polysaccharide and is abundant in
cereals (wheat, maize, rice), potatoes, and processed food based on cereal
flour, such as bread, pizza or pasta. Sugars appear in human diet mainly as
table sugar (sucrose, extracted from sugarcane or sugar beets), lactose
(abundant in milk), glucose and fructose, both of which occur naturally in
honey, many fruits, and some vegetables. Table sugar, milk, or honey are
often added to drinks and many prepared foods such as jam, biscuits and
cakes.
 Structure and nomenclature
With few exceptions (e.g., deoxyribose), monosaccharides have this
chemical formula: (CH2O)x , where conventionally x ≥ 3. Monosaccharides
can be classified by the number x of carbon atoms they contain: triose (3),
tetrose (4), pentose (5), hexose (6), heptose (7), and so on.
Glucose, used as an energy source and for the synthesis of starch,
glycogen and cellulose, is a hexose. Ribose and deoxyribose (in RNA and
DNA, respectively) are pentose sugars. Examples of heptoses include the
ketoses, mannoheptulose and sedoheptulose. Monosaccharides with eight
or more carbons are rarely observed as they are quite unstable. In
aqueous solutions monosaccharides exist as rings if they have more than
four carbons.

Linear-chain monosaccharides
Simple monosaccharides have a linear and unbranched carbon skeleton
with one carbonyl (C=O) functional group, and one hydroxyl (OH) group on
each of the remaining carbon atoms. Therefore, the molecular structure of
a simple monosaccharide can be written as H(CHOH)n (C=O)(CHOH)mH,
where n + 1 + m = x; so that its elemental formula is CxH2xOx.
By convention, the carbon atoms are numbered from 1 to x along the
backbone, starting from the end that is closest to the C=O group.
Monosaccharides are the simplest units of carbohydrates and the simplest
form of sugar.
If the carbonyl is at position 1 (that is, n or m is zero), the molecule begins
with a formyl group H(C=O)− and is technically an aldehyde. In that case,
the compound is termed an aldose. Otherwise, the molecule has a ketone
group, a carbonyl −(C=O)− between two carbons; then it is formally a
ketone, and is termed a ketose. Ketoses of biological interest usually have
the carbonyl at position 2.
A more general nomenclature for open-chain monosaccharides combines
a Greek prefix to indicate the number of carbons (tri-, tetr-, pent-, hex-,
etc.) with the suffixes "-ose" for aldoses and "-ulose" for ketoses. [1] In the
latter case, if the carbonyl is not at position 2, its position is then indicated
by a numeric infix. So, for example, H(C=O)(CHOH)4H is pentose,
H(CHOH)(C=O)(CHOH)3H is pentulose, and H(CHOH)2 (C=O)(CHOH)2H is
pent-3-ulose.

Open-chain stereoisomers
Two monosaccharides with equivalent molecular graphs (same chain
length and same carbonyl position) may still be distinct stereoisomers,
whose molecules differ in spatial orientation. This happens only if the
molecule contains a stereogenic center, specifically a carbon atom that is
chiral (connected to four distinct molecular sub-structures). Those four
bonds can have any of two configurations in space distinguished by their
handedness. In a simple open-chain monosaccharide, every carbon is
chiral except the first and the last atoms of the chain, and (in ketoses) the
carbon with the keto group.
For example, the triketose H(CHOH)(C=O)(CHOH)H (glycerone,
dihydroxyacetone) has no stereogenic center, and therefore exists as a
single stereoisomer. The other triose, the aldose H(C=O)(CHOH)2H
(glyceraldehyde), has one chiral carbon—the central one, number 2—
which is bonded to groups −H, −OH, −C(OH)H2 , and −(C=O)H. Therefore,
it exists as two stereoisomers whose molecules are mirror images of each
other (like a left and a right glove). Monosaccharides with four or more
carbons may contain multiple chiral carbons, so they typically have more
than two stereoisomers. The number of distinct stereoisomers with the
same diagram is bounded by 2c , where c is the total number of chiral
carbons.

Configuration of monosaccharides
Like many chiral molecules, the two stereoisomers of glyceraldehyde will
gradually rotate the polarization direction of linearly polarized light as it
passes through it, even in solution. The two stereoisomers are identified
with the prefixes d- and l-, according to the sense of rotation: d-
glyceraldehyde is dextrorotatory (rotates the polarization axis clockwise),
while l-glyceraldehyde is levorotatory (rotates it counterclockwise).
The d- and l- prefixes are also used with other monosaccharides, to
distinguish two particular stereoisomers that are mirror-images of each
other. For this purpose, one considers the chiral carbon that is furthest
removed from the C=O group. Its four bonds must connect to −H, −OH,
−C(OH)H, and the rest of the molecule. If the molecule can be rotated in
space so that the directions of those four groups match those of the analog
groups in D-glyceraldehyde's C2, then the isomer receives the d- prefix.
Otherwise, it receives the L- prefix

Cyclisation of monosaccharides
A monosaccharide often switches from the acyclic (open-chain) form to a
cyclic form, through a nucleophilic addition reaction between the carbonyl
group and one of the hydroxyl groups of the same molecule. The resulting
molecule has a hemiacetal or hemiketal group, depending on whether the
linear form was an aldose or a ketose. The reaction is easily reversed,
yielding the original open-chain form.
Cyclization creates a new stereogenic center at the carbonyl-bearing
carbon. The −OH group that replaces the carbonyl's oxygen may end up in
two distinct positions relative to the ring's midplane. The molecule can
change between these two forms by a process called mutarotation, that
consists in a reversal of the ringforming reaction followed by another ring
formation.
 Structure
Formerly the name "carbohydrate" was used in chemistry for any
compound with the formula Cm (H2O)n . Following this definition, some
chemists considered formaldehyde (CH2O) to be the simplest
carbohydrate, while others claimed that title for glycolaldehyde .
Today, the term is generally understood in the biochemistry sense, which
excludes compounds with only one or two carbons and includes many
biological carbohydrates which deviate from this formula. For example,
while the above representative formulas would seem to capture the
commonly known carbohydrates, ubiquitous and abundant carbohydrates
often deviate from this. For example, carbohydrates often display chemical
groups such as: N-acetyl (e.g. chitin), sulfate (e.g. glycosaminoglycans),
carboxylic acid and deoxy modifications (e.g. fucose and sialic acid).
Natural saccharides are generally built of simple carbohydrates called
monosaccharides with general formula (CH2O)n where n is three or more.
A typical monosaccharide has the structure H– (CHOH)x (C=O)–(CHOH)y–
H, that is, an aldehyde or ketone with many hydroxyl groups added,
usually one on each carbon atom that is not part of the aldehyde or ketone
functional group.
Examples of Terminology History Structure monosaccharides are glucose,
fructose, and glyceraldehydes. do not conform to this formula (e.g. uronic
acids and deoxy-sugars such as fucose) and there are many chemicals
that do conform to this formula but are not considered to be
monosaccharides (e.g. formaldehyde CH2O and inositol (CH2O)6 ).
The open-chain form of a monosaccharide often coexists with a closed ring
form where the aldehyde/ketone carbonyl group carbon (C=O) and
hydroxyl group (–OH) react forming a hemiacetal with a new C–O–C
bridge.
 Disaccharides
A disaccharide (also called a double sugar or biose) is the sugar formed
when two monosaccharides are joined by glycosidic linkage. Like
monosaccharides, disaccharides are simple sugars soluble in water. Three
common examples are sucrose, lactose, and maltose.
Disaccharides are one of the four chemical groupings of carbohydrates
(monosaccharides, disaccharides, oligosaccharides, and polysaccharides).
The most common types of disaccharides—sucrose, lactose, and maltose
—have 12 carbon atoms, with the general formula C12H22O11 . The
differences in these disaccharides are due to atomic arrangements within
the molecule.
The joining of monosaccharides into a double sugar happens by a
condensation reaction, which involves the elimination of a water molecule
from the functional groups only. Breaking apart a double sugar into its two
monosaccharides is accomplished by hydrolysis with the help of a type of
enzyme called a disaccharidase. As building the larger sugar ejects a
water molecule, breaking it down consumes a water molecule. These
reactions are vital in metabolism. Each disaccharide is broken down with
the help of a corresponding disaccharidase (sucrase, lactase, and
maltase).

Structure
The formation of a disaccharide molecule from two monosaccharide
molecules proceeds by displacing a hydroxy group from one molecule and
a hydrogen nucleus (a proton) from the other, so that the new vacant
bonds on the monosaccharides join the two monomers together. Because
of the removal of the water Classification Formation molecule from the
product, the term of convenience for such a process is "dehydration
reaction" (also "condensation reaction" or "dehydration synthesis"). For
example, milk sugar (lactose) is a disaccharide made by condensation of
one molecule of each of the monosaccharides glucose and galactose,
whereas the disaccharide sucrose in sugar cane and sugar beet, is a
condensation product of glucose and fructose. Maltose, another common
disaccharide, is condensed from two glucose molecules.

Examples of Disaccharides:
• Maltose
• Lactose
Maltose

Maltose, also known as malt, is a disaccharide made up of two alpha D-

glucose units. The two units of glucose are linked with an alpha 1,4
glycosidic bond. In the small intestinal lining in humans, the enzyme
maltase and isomaltase break down the molecules of maltose into two
glucose molecules, which is then absorbed by the body. Starch is the most
abundant polysaccharide in plant cells after cellulose.
On the contrary, a carbohydrate formed by the joining of two units of
glucose is called a disaccharide. The three common types of disaccharides
are sucrose, maltose and lactose. The other disaccharides which are less
commonly known are lactulose, trehalose, and cellobiose. When one water
molecule is removed by the joining of two monosaccharides, then a
molecule of a disaccharide is formed, and the reaction which takes place
during this process is known as the dehydration reaction.
Maltose was discovered by Augustin-Pierre Dubrunfaut, although this
discovery was not widely accepted until it was confirmed in 1872 by Irish
chemist and brewer Cornelius O'Sullivan. Its name comes from malt,
combined with the suffix '-ose' which is used in names of sugars.
 Structure and nomenclature
Carbohydrates are generally divided into monosaccharides,
oligosaccharides, and polysaccharides depending on the number of sugar
subunits. Maltose, with two sugar units, is a disaccharide, which falls under
oligosaccharides. Glucose is a hexose: a monosaccharide containing six
carbon atoms. The two glucose units are in the pyranose form and are
joined by an O-glycosidic bond, with the first carbon (C1 ) of the first
glucose linked to the fourth carbon (C4 ) of the second glucose, indicated
as (1→4). The link is characterized as α because the glycosidic bond to the
anomeric carbon (C1 ) is in the opposite plane from the CH2OH substituent
in the same ring (C6 of the first glucose). If the glycosidic bond to the
anomeric carbon (C1 ) were in the same plane as the CH2OH substituent, it
would be classified as a β(1→4) bond, and the resulting molecule would be
cellobiose. The anomeric carbon (C1 ) of the second glucose molecule,
which is not involved in a glycosidic bond, could be either an α- or β-
anomer depending on the bond direction of the attached hydroxyl group
relative to the CH2OH substituent of the same ring, resulting in either α-
maltose or β-maltose.
Maltose is a disaccharide made up of two alpha D glucose in which C1 of
the first glucose unit is bonded to C4 of the second glucose unit, as shown
figure below. The bond that joins two alpha glucose units is called alpha
1,4 glycosidic linkage.

Properties of Maltose
Disaccharide such as sucrose is very sweet and is used as a sweetener in
food products, but maltose lacks sweetness and is not used as a
sweetener. Instead, it is used in the malting of barley for the manufacturing
of beer.
It is used extensively in alcohol production.
Free maltose, as well as maltose formed by the digestion of starch in the
mouth, can cause dental caries.
Enzyme maltase and isomaltase present in the small intestine break down
maltose into two glucose units which are then absorbed. Our body has the
capacity to absorb maltose directly, which later on can be broken down
into glucose units for producing energy.
Due to a high glycemic index, maltose increases blood sugar levels.
Maltose in aqueous solution exhibits mutarotation, because the α and β
isomers that are formed by the different conformations of the anomeric
carbon have different specific rotations, and in aqueous solutions, these
two forms are in equilibrium. Maltose can easily be detected by the Woehlk
test or Fearon's test on methylamine.

Lactose
Lactose, or milk sugar, is a disaccharide sugar composed of galactose and
glucose subunits and has the molecular formula C12H22O11 . Lactose makes
up around 2–8% of milk (by mass). The name comes from lact (gen.
lactis), the Latin word for milk, plus the suffix -ose used to name sugars.
The compound is a white, water-soluble, non-hygroscopic solid with a
mildly sweet taste. It is used in the food industry.

Structure and reactions

Lactose is a disaccharide derived from the condensation of galactose and
glucose, which form a β-1→4 glycosidic linkage. Its systematic name is β-
Dgalactopyranosyl-(1→4)-Dglucose. The glucose can be in either the α-
pyranose form or the β-pyranose form, whereas the galactose can have
only the β-pyranose form: hence αlactose and β-lactose refer to the
anomeric form of the glucopyranose ring alone. Detection reactions for
lactose are the Woehlk and Fearon's test. The different lactose content of
different dairy products such as whole milk, lactose free milk, yogurt,
buttermilk, coffee creamer, sour cream, kefir, etc.
Lactose is hydrolysed to glucose and galactose, isomerised in alkaline
solution to lactulose, and catalytically hydrogenated to the corresponding
polyhydric alcohol, lactitol. Lactulose is a commercial product, used for
treatment of constipation.

Applications
Its mild flavor and easy handling properties have led to its use as a carrier
and stabiliser of aromas and pharmaceutical products. Lactose is not
added directly to many foods, because its solubility is less than that of
other sugars commonly used in food. Infant formula is a notable exception,
where the addition of lactose is necessary to match the composition of
human milk.
Lactose is not fermented by most yeast during brewing, which may be
used to advantage. For example, lactose may be used to sweeten stout
beer; the resulting beer is usually called a milk stout or a cream stout.
Another significant lactose use is in the pharmaceutical industry. Lactose is
added to tablet and capsule drug products as an ingredient because of its
physical and functional properties. For similar reasons, it can be used to
dilute illicit drugs such as cocaine or heroin.

Occurrence and isolation

Whey is made up of 6.5% solids, of which 4.8% is lactose, which is purified
by crystallization. Industrially, lactose is produced from whey permeate –
that is whey filtrated for all major proteins. The protein fraction is used in
infant nutrition and sports nutrition while the permeate can be evaporated
to 60–65% solids and crystallized while cooling. Lactose can also be
isolated by dilution of whey with ethanol.
 Polysacchardies
Polysaccharides or polycarbohydrates, are the most abundant
carbohydrates found in food. They are long-chain polymeric carbohydrates
composed of monosaccharide units bound together by glycosidic linkages.
This carbohydrate can react with water (hydrolysis) using amylase
enzymes as catalyst, which produces constituent sugars
(monosaccharides, or oligosaccharides). They range in structure from
linear to highly branched. Examples include storage polysaccharides such
as starch, glycogen and galactogen and structural polysaccharides such
as cellulose and chitin.
Polysaccharides are often quite heterogeneous, containing slight
modifications of the repeating unit. Depending on the structure, these
macromolecules can have distinct properties from their monosaccharide
building blocks. They may be amorphous or even insoluble in water.
Natural saccharides are generally composed of simple carbohydrates
called monosaccharides with general formula (CH2O)n where n is three or
more. Examples of monosaccharides are glucose, fructose, and
glyceraldehyde. Polysaccharides, meanwhile, have a general formula of Cx
(H2O)y where x and y are usually large numbers between 200 and 2500.
When the repeating units in the polymer backbone are six carbon
monosaccharides, as is often the case, the general formula simplifies to
(C6H10O5 )n , where typically 40 ≤ n ≤ 3000.
When all the monosaccharides in a polysaccharide are the same type, the
polysaccharide is called a homopolysaccharide or homoglycan, but when
more than one type of monosaccharide is present, they are called
heteropolysaccharides or heteroglycans.
Cellulose and chitin are examples of structural polysaccharides. Cellulose
is used in the cell walls of plants and other organisms and is said to be the
most abundant organic molecule on Earth.
 Structures
Nutrition polysaccharides are common sources of energy. Many organisms
can easily break down starches into glucose; however, most organisms
cannot metabolize cellulose or other polysaccharides like cellulose, chitin,
and arabinoxylans. Some bacteria and protists can metabolize these
carbohydrate types. Ruminants and termites, for example, use
microorganisms to process cellulose.
Even though these complex polysaccharides are not very digestible, they
provide important dietary elements for humans. Called dietary fiber, these
carbohydrates enhance digestion. The main action of dietary fiber is to
change the nature of the contents of the gastrointestinal tract and how
other nutrients and chemicals are absorbed. Soluble fiber binds to bile
acids in the small intestine, making them less likely to enter the body; this,
in turn, lowers cholesterol levels in the blood. Soluble fiber also attenuates
the absorption of sugar, reduces sugar response after eating, normalizes
blood lipid levels and, once fermented in the colon, produces short-chain
fatty acids as byproducts with wide-ranging physiological activities
(discussion below). Although insoluble fiber is associated with reduced
diabetes risk, the mechanism by which this occurs is unknown.

Functions Of Polysaccharides
The polysaccharides serve as a structural organization in animals and
plants. Other functions of polysaccharides include:They store energy in
organisms.
Due to the presence of multiple hydrogen bonds, the water cannot
invade the molecules making them hydrophobic.
They allow for changes in the concentration gradient which influences the
uptake of nutrients and water by the cells.
Many polysaccharides become covalently bonded with lipids and proteins
to form glycolipids and glycoproteins. These glycolipids and glycoproteins
are used to send messages or signals between and within the cells.
They provide support to the cells. The cell wall of plants is made up of
polysaccharide cellulose, which provides support to the cell wall of the
plant. In insects and fungi, chitin plays an important role in providing
support to the extracellular matrix around the cells.

Insulin
Inulin is a naturally occurring polysaccharide complex carbohydrate
composed of fructose, a plant-derived food that human digestive enzymes
cannot completely break down. Inulin is used by some plants as a means
of storing energy and is typically found in roots or rhizomes. Most plants
that synthesize and store inulin do not store other forms of carbohydrates
such as starch. In the United States in 2018, the Food and Drug
Administration approved inulin as a dietary fiber ingredient used to improve
the nutritional value of manufactured food products.

Cellulose
The structural components of plants are formed primarily from cellulose.
Wood is largely cellulose and lignin, while paper and cotton are nearly pure
cellulose. Cellulose is a polymer made with repeated glucose units bonded
together by beta-linkages. so they do not digest cellulose. Certain animals,
such as termites can digest cellulose, because bacteria possessing the
enzyme are present in their gut. Cellulose is insoluble in water. It does not
change color when mixed with iodine. On hydrolysis, it yields glucose.

Arabinoxylans
Arabinoxylans are found in both the primary and secondary cell walls of
plants and are the copolymers of two sugars: arabinose and xylose. They
may also have beneficial effects on human health.
 Amino acids
Amino acids are organic compounds that contain both amino and
carboxylic acid functional groups. Although over 500 amino acids exist in
nature, by far the most important are the 22 α-amino acids incorporated
into proteins. Only these 22 appear in the genetic code of life.
Amino acids can be classified according to the locations of the core
structural functional groups (alpha- (α-), beta- (β-), gamma- (γ-) amino
acids, etc.), other categories relate to polarity, ionization, and side chain
group type (aliphatic, acyclic, aromatic, polar, etc.). In the form of proteins,
amino acid residues form the second-largest component (water being the
largest) of human muscles and other tissues. Beyond their role as residues
in proteins, amino acids participate in a number of processes such as
neurotransmitter transport and biosynthesis. It is thought that they played a
key role in enabling life on Earth and its emergence.
Amino acids are formally named by the IUPAC-IUBMB Joint Commission
on Biochemical Nomenclature in terms of the fictitious "neutral" structure
shown in the illustration. For example, the systematic name of alanine is 2-
aminopropanoic acid, based on the formula CH3−CH(NH2 )−COOH. The
Commission justified this approach as follows:
The systematic names and formulas given refer to hypothetical forms in
which amino groups are unprotonated and carboxyl groups are
undissociated. This convention is useful to avoid various nomenclatural
problems but should not be taken to imply that these structures represent
an appreciable fraction of the amino-acid molecules.

History
The first few amino acids were discovered in the early 1800s In 1806,
French chemists Louis-Nicolas Vauquelin and Pierre Jean Robiquet
isolated a compound from asparagus that was subsequently named
asparagine, the first amino acid to be discovered. Cystine was discovered
in 1810, although its monomer, cysteine, remained undiscovered until
1884. Glycine and leucine were discovered in 1820. The last of the 20
common amino acids to be discovered was threonine in 1935 by William
Cumming Rose, who also determined the essential amino acids and
established the minimum daily requirements of all amino acids for optimal
growth.
The unity of the chemical category was recognized by Wurtz in 1865, but
he gave no particular name to it. The first use of the term "amino acid" in
the English language dates from 1898, while the German term,
Aminosäure, was used earlier.Proteins were found to yield amino acids
after enzymatic digestion or acid hydrolysis. In 1902, Emil Fischer and
Franz Hofmeister independently proposed that proteins are formed from
many amino acids, whereby bonds are formed between the amino group of
one amino acid with the carboxyl group of another, resulting in a linear
structure that Fischer termed "peptide".

General structure
2-, alpha-, or α-amino acids have the generic formula H2NCHRCOOH in
most cases, where R is an organic substituent known as a "side chain".
Of the many hundreds of described amino acids, 22 are proteinogenic
("protein-building"). It is these 22 compounds that combine to give a vast
array of peptides and proteins assembled by ribosomes. Non-
proteinogenic or modified amino acids may arise from posttranslational
modification or during nonribosomal peptide synthesis.

Sidechains
i)Polar Charged Side Chains:- Five amino acids possess a
charge at neutral pH. Often these side chains appear at the surfaces on
proteins to enable their solubility in water, and side chains with opposite
charges form important electrostatic contacts called salt bridges that
maintain structures within a single protein or between interfacing proteins.
Many proteins bind metal into their structures specifically, and these
interactions are commonly mediated by charged side chains such as
aspartate, glutamate and histidine. Under certain conditions, each ion-
forming group can be charged, forming double salts.
The two negatively charged amino acids at neutral pH are aspartate (Asp,
D) and glutamate (Glu, E). The anionic carboxylate groups behave as
Brønsted bases in most circumstances.Enzymes in very low pH
environments, like the aspartic protease pepsin in mammalian stomachs,
may have catalytic aspartate or glutamate residues that act as Brønsted
acids.

ii)Polar Uncharged Side Chains:- The polar, uncharged amino

acids serine (Ser, S), threonine (Thr, T), asparagine (Asn, N) and
glutamine (Gln, Q) readily form hydrogen bonds with water and other
amino acids. They do not ionize in normal conditions, a prominent
exception being the catalytic serine in serine proteases. This is an example
of severe perturbation, and is not characteristic of serine residues in
general. Threonine has two chiral centers, not only the L (2S) chiral center
at the α-carbon shared by all amino acids apart from achiral glycine, but
also (3R) at the β-carbon. The full stereochemical specification is (2S,3R)-
L-threonine.

iii)Hydrophobic Side Chains:- Nonpolar amino acid interactions

are the primary driving force behind the processes that fold proteins into
their functional three dimensional structures. None of these amino acids'
side chains ionize easily, and therefore do not have pKas, with the
exception of tyrosine (Tyr, Y). The hydroxyl of tyrosine can deprotonate at
high pH forming the negatively charged phenolate. Because of this one
could place tyrosine into the polar, uncharged amino acid category, but its
very low solubility in water matches the characteristics of hydrophobic
amino acids well.
 Proteins
Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or
more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of
functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA
replication, responding to stimuli, providing structure to cells and
organisms, and transporting molecules from one location to another.
Proteins differ from one another primarily in their sequence of amino acids,
which is dictated by the nucleotide sequence of their genes, and which
usually results in protein folding into a specific 3D structure that determines
its activity.
A linear chain of amino acid residues is called a polypeptide. A protein
contains at least one long polypeptide. Short polypeptides, containing less
than 20–30 residues, are rarely considered to be proteins and are
commonly called peptides. The individual amino acid residues are bonded
together by peptide bonds and adjacent amino acid residues. The
sequence of amino acid residues in a protein is defined by the sequence of
a gene, which is encoded in the genetic code. In general, the genetic code
specifies 20 standard amino acids; but in certain organisms the genetic
code can include selenocysteine and—in certain archaea—pyrrolysine.
Shortly after or even during synthesis, the residues in a protein are often
chemically modified by post-translational modification, which alters the
physical and chemical properties, folding, stability, activity, and ultimately,
the function of the proteins. Some proteins have non-peptide groups
attached, which can be called prosthetic groups or cofactors. Proteins can
also work together to achieve a particular function, and they often
associate to form stable protein complexes.
Once formed, proteins only exist for a certain period and are then
degraded and recycled by the cell's machinery through the process of
protein turnover. A protein's lifespan is measured in terms of its half-life
and covers a wide range. They can exist for minutes or years with an
average lifespan of 1–2 days in mammalian cells. Abnormal or misfolded
proteins are degraded more rapidly either due to being targeted for
destruction or due to being unstable.

structure