Chemical Properties of Amino Acids

CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF
AMINO ACIDS
CHOLA.M. MULWANI 17000242
CAROLINE HANSINGO 17000251
BEAUTY MWAPE 17000304
GLORIA NKONDE 17000199
CATHERINE CHAPALA 17000197
REJOICE BANDA 17000300
LORIS MALOSO 17000460
GWENA ROOERT 17620008
MUBANGA CHIRWA 17000347
HECTOR MWAPE 17000360
DEFININATION
Amino acids are the basic structure units of proteins
consisting of amino group (NH2), carboxyl (-COOH)
group, hydrogen (H) and a variable distinctive (R)
group.
CHEMICAL PROPERTIES
The general reactions of amino acids are mostly due to
the presence of two functional groups namely carboxyl
(-COOH) group and amino (-NH2) group.
1. DECARBOXYLATION
Decarboxylation: this is a process of removing a carboxyl group
from a chemical compound (usually replacing it with hydrogen)
 Amino acids undergo decarboxylation to produce
corresponding amines.
R - CH-COO R- CH2 +CO2
NH3 NH3
This reaction assumes significance in the living cells due to the
formation of many biologically important amines. These
include, histamine, tyramine and y-amino butyric acid (GABA)
from the amino acids histidine, tyrosine and glutamate,
respectively.
2. REACTION WITH AMMONIA
The carboxyl group of dicarboxylic amino acids reacts
with NH3 to form amide
CH2-COOH + NH3 CH2-CONH
Aspartic acid will react with ammonia to form
asparagine
3.REACTION WITH NINHYDRIN
The a- amino acids reacts with ninhydrin to form a
purple, blue or pink colour complex (ruhemann’s
purple)
Amino acid + ninhydrin keto
acid+NH3+CO2+hydrindantin
Hydrindatin + NH3+ninhydrin Ruhemann’s purple
Ninhydrin reaction is effectively used for the
quantitative determination of amino acids and
proteins.
REACTION WITH NINHYDRIN CONT.
Alpha amino acids react with Ninhydrin involved in the
development of colour which is explained by the
following four steps.
1. alpha-amino acid + Ninhydrin ---> Reduced
ninhydrin +Alpha amino acid +H2O
This is an oxidative deamination reaction that elicit two

hydrogen from the alpha amino acid to produce an alpha
– amino acid. Also the ninhydrin reduced and loses an
oxygen atom with the formation of water molecule.
2. alpha-amino acid + H2O ---> alpha-keto acid +NH3
The rapid hydrolysis of NH group in the alpha – imino acid will cause
the formation of an alpha- keto acid with an ammonia molecule. This
alpha-keto acid further involved in the decarboxylation reaction of step.
3. alpha-keto acid + NH3 ---> aldehyde + CO2
Under a heated condition to form an aldehyde that has one less
carbon atom than the original amino acid. A carbon dioxide
molecule is produced along with aldehyde. These first three steps
produce the reduced ninhydrin and ammonia that are required for
the production of color .The overall reaction for the above reactions is
simply explained in Reaction (4) as follows:
4. alpha-amino acid + 2 ninhydrin ---> CO2 + aldehyde + final
complex(BLUE) + 3H2O
In summary, ninhydrin, which is originally yellow,
reacts with amino acid and turns deep purple. It is
this purple colour that is detected in this
method. Ninhydrin will react with a free alpha-
amino group, NH2-C-COOH. This group is present
in all amino acids, proteins or peptides.
1 FLORO-2,3-DINITROBENZENE (FDNB)
REACTION
Amino acids react with (FDNB) forming a yellow
product. The reaction can be used to determine the
sequence of amino acid in a protein since FDNB reacts
with the free alpha amino group of the protein
The 5 dimethylamino- naphthaline-1-
sulphonyl chloride(DANSYL chloride) reaction:
The dansyl amino acid derivative florescence in light
therefore can be used for quantitative analysis in flourimetry.
Dansyl chloride or 5-(DimethylAmino)Naphthalene-1-
SulfonYL chloride is a reagent that reacts with primary
amino groups in both aliphatic and aromatic amines to
produce stable blue- or blue-green–fluorescent sulfonamide
adducts. It can also be made to react with secondary amines.
Dansyl chloride is widely used to modify amino acids;
specifically, protein sequencing and amino acid analysis.
Dansyl chloride may also be denoted DNSC. Likewise, a
similar derivative, dansyl amide is known as DNSA.

Chemical Properties of Amino Acids

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CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF

This is an oxidative deamination reaction that elicit two

3. alpha-keto acid + NH3 ---> aldehyde + CO2

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